By Diana Dillaber Murray, The Oakland Press Posted: 11/25/13, 5:11 PM EST | Jamal Cameron picked his 17-year-old daughter up from Pontiac High School Monday morning because the building was so cold “the kids had their coats and hats on and their noses were red.” This was the second time this school year, said Cameron, who also has a son in Pontiac Middle School, where parents have complained about lack of heat in the building. Cameron is one of several parents who have been frustrated about the situation this school year, especially since temperatures have dropped into the 20s. Although Superintendent Kelley Williams was not available for comment, Pontiac Education Association President Aimee McKeever acknowledged late Monday morning there has been a problem with the heating systems at some schools. McKeever said late Monday morning that she had been in both buildings Monday and that boilers at both Pontiac High School and Middle School had been repaired over the weekend. She said the boilers had been turned back on in the morning, but it took awhile to warm the buildings up again. “This is an ongoing process,” McKeever said. “This is a really old heating system,” she said of the high school. “You have to treat it sensitively.” There has also been a problem at Frost School, but the building is no longer cold; now the issue is keeping the building from being too warm, a problem that is being worked on. Robert Moore, deputy superintendent of Oakland Schools intermediate district, which is newly contracted to handle business operations for Pontiac schools, said the pumps broke and have been fixed for now at the high school, but a new boiler will likely be needed eventually, he said. “A facility condition assessment is underway by Barton Mallow,” Moore said. Whether the district will be able to replace boilers will be up to the state, which has to approve the cash flow for district operations, Moore said. Pontiac school district has a deficit that has grown to $51.7 million and is working with the state under a consent agreement to bring the deficit down with major reductions while working on an education plan to raise student achievement. If the district cannot comply with the requirements in the consent agreement, the next step will likely be the appointment of an emergency manager to operate the district. McKeever said Pontiac schools “ is just waiting for money from the state. “We are waiting for the state to step up and do their job,” for Pontiac and other urban districts that have problems with buildings that they cannot afford to fix, McKeever said. “The legislature does not appropriate funds specifically for school infrastructure needs,” said William Disessa, spokesman for the state Department of Education. “ Those expenses must be borne out of a district’s entire budget (which includes State School Aid funds),” Disessa said in answer to a query to the state departments of Treasury and Education asking if there is money available for boiler repairs . Lack of heat can have a negative impact on students’ learning and teachers’ effectiveness, according to studies compiled by the United States Department of Education. The studies show that many school systems in urban and high-poverty areas “are plagued by decaying buildings that threaten the health, safety and learning opportunities of students.” According to the report on www2.ed.gov/offices/OESE/archives/inits/construction/impact2.html, “A growing body of research has linked student achievement and behavior to the physical building conditions and overcrowding. “Decaying environmental conditions such as peeling paint, crumbling plaster, nonfunctioning toilets, poor lighting, inadequate ventilation, and inoperative heating and cooling systems can affect the learning as well as the health and the morale of staff and students,” according to the nationwide report that cites several studies of urban districts. Several studies were cited that indicated student achievement was lower in buildings in poor condition “McGuffey (1982) concluded that heating and air conditioning systems appeared to be very important, along with special instructional facilities (i.e., science laboratories or equipment) and color and interior painting, in contributing to student achievement,” the report indicated. Building conditions such as heating and cooling also affect teachers as well. One researcher interviewed state Teachers of the Year to determine which aspects of the physical environment affected their teaching the most, and these teachers pointed to the availability and quality of classroom equipment and furnishings, as well as ambient features such as climate control and acoustics as the most important environmental factors. “In particular, the teachers emphasized that the ability to control classroom temperature is crucial to the effective performance of both students and teachers.” Poor building and working conditions can cause low morale and high absenteeism, reduced levels of effort and lower effectiveness. Building renovations, on the other hand, according to one study, led teachers to feel “a renewed sense of hope, of commitment, a belief that the district cared about what went on that building.”
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 01:46:03 +0000
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