BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
Linwood Middle School students are feeling the heat from recent school budget defeats, as the air conditioning in the North Brunswick school has been set at a higher temperature to account for decreased available funds.
Thirty-seven parents of middle school children signed a petition and presented it to Linwood Principal Pete Clark on June 2 regarding the environment of the classrooms. Parents say the students have been suffering from increased asthma and allergy problems as well as headaches, stuffiness and overall uncomfortableness.
“It’s only one month during the whole year when you need the air conditioning,” said parent Tony Vinayak, whose seventh-grade son is an asthma patient. “If it’s only one month that we need it and we can’t make it work, what’s the good of the air conditioning?”
The problem is occurring, according to the parents, from limited ventilation, no ceiling or portable fans and at least 25 kids in each room.
“She’s not one to complain,” Debora Hall said of her sixth-grade daughter, “but she has said the school is very warm, and that the teachers and students are complaining. She said one of the teachers said it was as hot as an oven in the classroom.”
Yet Marshall Sigall, business administrator for the school district, said that the 78-degree room temperature is due to reductions associated with the school budgets and has affected all buildings in the district, including administration.
“Energy costs have increased significantly and even though we had a mild winter, this year we are already $200,000 over our budget,” he said. “Seventy-eight degrees I don’t believe is unbearably hot, but it is a little warmer than the buildings have previously been kept at. I believe it is a reasonable temperature to keep the buildings at, and the Board of Education agrees.”
Sigall added that anyone who feels that temperatures are rising too high can contact Principal Clark, who will have the maintenance crew check the thermostat and make any necessary repairs.
Although school ends on Tuesday for the district, parents are concerned about the effects this will have in September when the weather will still be hot and humid.
“Even if it is for a budgetary reason, it is one of the basic necessities we need to take care of before everything else,” Vinayak said.
However, due to their limitations, the district said the temperature will have to remain at 78 degrees despite any forthcoming weather in the fall.
“If energy costs continue to increase, we have to continue to conserve energy because we need to manage our resources effectively,” Sigall said.