School district places swamp coolers in classrooms as school year starts

School District 11 in Colorado Springs is placing swamp coolers in some of its schools as the school year kicks off with high temperatures.

Devra Ashby, the communications director for D11, says nine out of 55 schools in the district currently don’t have air conditioning.

“Teachers are also feeling the impacts,” Ashby said. “I know they are opening their windows, they’re bringing in fans, they’re trying to do the best that they can to keep their kids as comfortable as possible in these circumstances.”

The hot classrooms have some districts re-examining how the the high temperatures are impacting students’ learning, especially in the older school buildings without AC.

Ashby said D11’s superintendent Michael Thomas is visiting schools to learn more on how the school administration can make adjustments to improve the learning environment.

“Slowly but surely we’re getting to the point where we will eventually have all schools updated,” Ashby said.