'It's Inhumane' | Baltimore Teachers Union Holds Fan Drive In Effort To Combat Problems Of Hot Classrooms
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The first day of school is coming up quickly.
Before the bell rings, however, the Baltimore Teachers Union is scrambling to get space fans into schools; all in an effort to alleviate the problem of hot classrooms, something that plagues more than 50 Baltimore City Schools.
Baltimore Teachers Union Asks For Fan Donations Over Lack Of Air Conditioning In Some City Schools
"It's uncomfortable and, basically, it's inhumane," Baltimore Teachers Union President Diamonte Brown said. "Especially, when you're sitting across from other offices and classrooms with air conditioners and you're sweating to death as you're trying to better yourself."
Brown said the lack of air conditioning units in Baltimore City Schools is dangerous for students, and a detriment to learning.
Early in both the 2018 and 2019 school years, extreme heat forced early dismissals for the more than 50 schools without air conditioning.
However, school administrators said fans are not the fix to the problem.
In a written statement to WJZ, administrators said:
"We are concerned that the large donation of fans could overwhelm our buildings electrical systems, which are some of the most outdated buildings in the state. We don't want attempts to alleviate one problem to cause another issue with our buildings such as blown fuses and power outages."
Brown said that if a lack of electrical capacity in Baltimore City Schools is a problem, then there are bigger issues facing the facilities.
"I think if we don't have the electrical capacity in our schools to accommodate 13 plugged in fans, I think we have bigger problems in our facilities,"
The Baltimore Teachers Union is still asking for donations of fans, or, money to buy them ahead of the first day of school.
