Elisabeth Lee via Procreate

The mass breakdown of air conditioning units at Ayala have been plaguing Ayala for months. Students and Faculty alike are frustrated by the lack of air conditioning and its effect on teaching and learning. According to Paul Marceau, the district office said the air conditioner units should be replaced during Thanksgiving break which is still over a month away. With the repairs taking this long, one has to question, how does the air conditioning units being dysfunctional affect the school?

In the scorching heat of Southern California, students and teachers at Ayala are grappling with a pressing issue: broken air conditioner units. As temperatures rise, the lack of functional air conditioning units is turning classrooms into unbearable ovens, affecting both teaching and learning. 

In September of 2022, California Assembly Bill 2232 was signed into law and mandated that all schools must update their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) units to meet new ventilation and filtration standards. While this law was enacted to ensure the well-being of students and teachers amidst rising temperatures, it has caused issues requiring HVAC unit replacements at Ayala and other schools affected.

In the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD), there are policies that emphasize the importance of competitive bidding to obtain the lowest price for materials and services. Could this policy that was implemented to save money be the reason why air conditioning units are breaking down at such a rapid rate?

“I worry about the quality of the air conditioning units. This policy is also probably why the air conditioning takes so long to replace too because buying the units themselves is a time-consuming process,” Integrated Math 2 teacher Mrs. Randi McKee said.

In the F quad alone, there have been at least seven classrooms without functioning air conditioning. Mr. Paul Marceau, one of the teachers in the F quad who has been relocated to another classroom, has had the air conditioning unit in his classroom break two times in the last year. The broken air conditioning units are not just an inconvenience but a serious hindrance to teaching. Teachers like Mr. Marceau find themselves constantly moving between classrooms, wasting valuable time and energy.

“I mean it’s a major pain in the butt to have to go to a room that is across the campus. If I forget something, I have to walk all the way back to the F quad from the B quad and then I have to walk all the way back to B. All my stuff is in my classroom so it’s a time-consuming operation going back and forth constantly,” Mr. Marceau said.

Mrs. McKee also detailed the issues with having non-functioning air conditioning units.

“Being hot and sweaty is miserable and exhausting. Students have a harder time focusing. We have been offered an alternative room to go to each period, but all of my supplies are in my regular classroom. The desk set up in the alternative room is not ideal,” Mrs. McKee said.

It’s not only the teachers who are unhappy with the lack of functional air conditioning units. Several students also voiced their concerns about the rising heat in classrooms and the effect the temperature will have on their concentration and ability to learn effectively. 

“It just feels uncomfortable and unsettling walking into a hot classroom. It’s like walking into the cold section of the supermarket, except it’s hot. It’s the first thing you notice and it doesn’t leave your mind,” Caden Hong (11) said.

The slow pace of repairs coupled with concerns about the quality of replacement units has left students and teachers sweltering in unbearable classrooms. As of now, another air conditioning unit is broken in Mr. Marceau’s temporary classroom in the B quad. As this issue becomes more pressing, students and teachers alike are waiting for the district office to take action and restore the once-great air conditioning units of Ruben S. Ayala High School.