Pam MacGillivray knows all about teaching in a warm classroom.
Her room is located above the boiler room at Trenton Middle School and in the middle of the winter it’s a great spot to be, but on the hottest days of summer it can be suffocating.
“I can wear tank tops all year in this room,” she said Thursday when the room was reaching 35 C. “It’s cozy in here in the middle of January and everyone wants the room, but right now no one wants to be in here.”
MacGillivray, who teaches grades 5 and 6 math and science, expects the room be even warmer today once the students settle in to class.
“It will be a full day spent in this room,” she said. “There’s orientation and registration. There will be lots of water and I will make sure all the hooded sweatshirts are on the hooks in the hall or on the back of their chairs.”
She said during her past four years in this classroom it has never been this hot during the first days of school.
The Chignecto-Central School Board is encouraging parents and students to use common sense when sending their children to school on Friday. Forecasters predict temperatures will soar into the 30s and none of Pictou County’s schools are air conditioned.
“We’ve had some warm days in June but it is really unseasonably warm and humid for this time of year,” said Terri Mingo, communications spokeswoman for the Chignecto Central Regional School Board.
She said the board is adhering to the same guidelines that health promotion is telling people, which are to draw the blinds, yet let fresh air circulate, be properly hydrated and limit physical activity.
Mingo said all the schools in the Chignecto region have been given information on how to keep students cool and it has been recommended that they may want to limit physical activity and outdoor breaks today.
“Of course there is always the parents prerogative if they want to sent their child to school,” she said.
Nancy Boutilier, principal of Salt Springs Elementary School, said staff at her rural school will be prepared for the heat by closing the curtains in the classrooms to block out the hot sun and adjusting their activities.
“It will be warm but it’s manageable at our school,” she said. “It’s common sense. We will make sure the students are well hydrated.”
She said the first day of school is always exciting so she doubts the children will be complaining about the heat very much.
“We will be mainly settling in and making sure everyone is comfortable,” she said.
Bob Ballantyne, principal of one of the county’s newest high schools, said newer buildings at Northumberland Regional High School use an air exchanger that draws fresh air in from outside. Unfortunately, he said, this isn’t much help in the day time because warm air is circulated through the building, but it is useful at night when the air is cooler.
He added that all the school’s fountains are refrigerated and the school is situated on a bit of hill so it is usually easy to catch a breeze through the doors and windows.
“We will also make sure the students limit their physical activity, but there’s no question it’s going to be a warm day,” he said.
