What needs to be explained is that the broken AC unit affects only a small portion of the high school and has very little, if any, effect upon most of the classrooms in the building.

The broken AC unit cools only the "central core" of the building - most of this space is taken up by administrative offices and other spaces that are not primarily used for teaching. The only non-administrative spaces that are really affected by this broken AC unit are the library, the first and third floor lecture halls, and a handful of classrooms.

The vast majority of classrooms at WHS do not (and have never) had air conditioning. Somehow teaching and learning has happened in those room for the 43 years the building has been in service - and there have been many days where the temperature has soared above 90 degrees.

Perhaps the Central Administration offices will need to be relocated and cooler spaces might need to be found for the few classrooms affected by this problem - but I'm sure the students and teachers affected by this malfunction will carry on as they always have.

The bigger question is this: As WHS is now the longest-serving school building in Waltham that has not been rebuilt or renovated, when will the ball get rolling to upgrade the high school facilities to bring them in line with our new elementary and middle schools?

Ryan, I just re-read all of the stories that appear as links on this page and did not find anything about which areas of the building are and are not affected by the broken AC. Could you provide me with a direct link to the story that explains this?

"The unit that powers the main section of Waltham High School suffered a mechanical failure in late May and soon after maitnence workers discovered it was leaking Freon, district Facilities Director Skip Bandini told the Monday, July 16 Waltham School Committee meeting. The Freon remained in the unit, Bandini said. Other units that power the gymnasium and auditorium were not impacted by the issue."

That paragraph, minus the last sentence, appeared in the story when it was first published. Also, the School Committee never said that the classrooms lacked A/C therefore it was not reported.

Regardless of where the A/C works or does not, the city is REQUIRED to maintain temperatures in a certain range in order to maintain public health. The state Department of Public Health recommends that buildings be kept between 70 and 78 degrees. Check out this link: http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/environmental/iaq/2009/needham-newman-elemty-school-2009.pdf

Hi Justa,

I certainly don't doubt your firsthand experience inside the building. I am generally there for night time meetings, but have occasionally visited during the day.

I reported the climate control system the way I did way because that is the way the School Committee explained it to the public during the meeting. The SC never said the classrooms lack A/C, but I will confirm that with them on Thursday. Thank you for your diligent thoughts, they have helped me in reporting this story.

Hi Zach,

I am so happy to see WHS kids on the site! The district has not yet figured that out. Hopefully, that answer will be announced at the Thursday meeting.