In scorching Southern California, teachers and students face a critical problem: broken air conditioners turning classrooms into hot ovens, impacting teaching and learning. 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 units.
California Assembly Bill 2232 mandated HVAC upgrades to AC unites by September 2022, but the ventilation issue persists, leading to classroom relocations and teacher dissatisfaction.
“To be quite honest, it makes me feel disrespected as a teacher because they’re not even doing anything about fixing the AC,” English 9 and 10 teacher, Mrs. Kimberly Barreras said. “I feel like they could have done a better job and that kind of goes back to not disrespecting the teachers on campus.”
Barreras had the biggest change from being in the B quad to the H portables. Due to this change, she has been battling with a lot of disadvantages, including a bare room due to lack of decoration creating a negative learning environment, poor Wi-Fi, and a faulty door lock that disrupts instructional time.
“I did not have a say on which room I got, they just chose one for me,” Barreras said. “I actually would have preferred a quad room. I feel like they would easily fix the one in the quad rooms versus the portables. They are kind of dismissive because it’s portables.”
AVID and AP Psychology teacher Ms. Christy Koenig and Art Fundamentals and AP 2D Design teacher Mr. Daniel Spellman currently have working ACs, however the issue hit them last year and left a hefty impact. They were relieved their classrooms were fixed last year, sparing them from displacement, but feel bad for other teachers now changing rooms.
“Last year, [there were] certain things that were needed in order for my students to complete the AP exam just because we wanted to make sure the kids could complete the exam on time. The air conditioning was fixed in a quicker manner to help with that issue,” Spellman said.
Other teachers also faced the same issue, only having their air conditioners fixed when it proved detrimental to learning.
“Last year, my air conditioner didn’t work for about two weeks, but there was a week where it was really really hot and it would get into after 80s,” Koenig said. “It was just that everybody couldn’t concentrate. It’s hard to teach and the kids would get sleepy. Luckily, it wasn’t too long before it was fixed.”
For both teachers, when the problem did hit them, they did everything in their power to make sure that their students didn’t feel the heat.
“When it broke for me, I problem solved and figured out some quick solutions, trying to keep the door closed as much as possible. Luckily one teacher, Mr. Robleto, had a sixth period prep last year and when it got too hot, I was able to take my students to sixth period over there to work on things,” Spellman said.
English 9 teacher Mrs. Robin Yim is another teacher from the B quad who moved to the portable. Though the change didn’t affect her lesson plans, except for not having access to her class library, her replacement classroom wasn’t home.
“I think my reaction at first was disbelief, then frustration,” Yim said. “I’m still frustrated today.”
She wants to accept that the district is doing enough, but with all their resources, it’s hard for her to believe that they are. Yim knows there are some teachers who have not been in their rooms since last school year.
“There isn’t anything that the school can do at this level,” Yim said.
One thing all these teachers have in common is that they are over and done with the AC issue.
They wanted it fixed on August 5, however, it didn’t happen. With today’s heat, teachers hope the ACs will be fixed soon to avoid year-end frustration.
“I think one big thing is maybe seeing if there can be a plan that is figured out to ensure that AC units are regularly checked on to ensure that this doesn’t happen again,” Spellman said.
The widespread failure of air conditioning units at Ayala has been plaguing the campus for months. Both students and faculty are expressing their frustration regarding the absence of air conditioning and its effect on teaching and learning.
