A parent-led fundraising campaign is underway to raise tens of thousands of dollars for air conditioning in Oakland Unified schools.
The goal is to raise $100,000 to cool 200 classrooms across the school district and prevent conditions such as temperatures topping 90 degrees inside schools like Manzanita Community Elementary.
“It’s really important that our kids have safe places that they can go to, and if it is hot and if it is over 90 degrees in their classroom, that is not safe,” Co-founder of Cooling the Schools Alison Mata said.
Last march, the parents raised $6,000 for AC units at Sequoia Elementary.
Now, they want to cool classrooms districtwide, prioritizing the hottest classrooms at Title 1 schools and those with the least fundraising capacity.
A donor is already promising to match the first $5,000 raised.
The group is working with the district, but feels it can get the cool air moving faster.
“Let’s get these in the classrooms. We are in September, October and these can be the hottest months that we have so it’s important that we are not waiting until the next year, the year after,” Mata said.
Students at United Success Academy say they can feel the heat, especially during days like last week when temperatures hit the high 90s.
“Our schools were not built for hot climate and so we are trying to address it, and it will take about a decade to address all the issues across the schools,” OUSD Chief System and Service Officer Facilities and Operations Preston Thomas said.
With 2,100 classrooms without ventilation or cooling, the district says it’s a massive fix.
Over the next two years, it plans to use part of $12 million in bond funding to target the hottest schools with window film, cool roof systems, better ventilation and “living school yards,” reducing asphalt.
Five schools are also getting major cooling upgrades, but the district estimates it needs up to $1 billion to address heat across all its schools making community partnerships even more important.
“There are going to be areas where we don’t have resources and funding and they are really taking an equity frame to try to utilize some of the data and partnership with the district to try to address things we might not be able to reach right now,” Thomas said.
