ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 11, 1993                   TAG: 9307120236
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SWELTERING SCHOOLS ARE A HEALTH HAZARD

JACQUELYN Arnold is right (June 28 letter, "Pamper the crooks; cook the kids"). Public schools need air conditioning! Not only are the hot, humid classrooms not conducive to learning, they also offer increased health risks to asthmatics and those prone to allergies. These conditions provide for quick transmission of a respiratory virus or other communicable diseases.

My daughter carried an insulated cup filled with ice the last two months of school because her classroom at Mountain View Elementary School was intolerably hot. Children surely cannot concentrate, and teachers must find it very difficult to maintain a positive learning environment under these conditions.

School Board members and local government officials should spend a day with these teachers and children in the uncomfortable classrooms. I am sure that their productivity would greatly decrease in these temperatures.

As a taxpaying parent, I am tired of budget cuts to education and the ridiculously low wages of teachers. Our children are the hope for the future. We must get our priorities in order. Air conditioning is only the tip of the iceberg! SANDY WILSON CLOVERDALE 


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