Article content

Bianca Barros just can’t get used to the blistering heat on the third floor of Dante Alighieri Academy in Toronto. Two weeks ago, the temperature inside the school spoiled a ham and cheese sandwich she had for lunch. She didn’t know until she took a nauseating bite and was forced to go home sick. She had spent the whole day on the school’s “stuffy” third floor.

This is the last warm summer Barros, a 17-year-old Grade 12 student, will have to spend at the Lawrence West and Dufferin-area school, where nearly all the classrooms in the main building have no air conditioning. Thousands of Toronto-area students and teachers face the same struggle.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or It’s stinking hot. So why do so few of Toronto’s schools have air conditioning? Mapping our a/c Back to video

“It is affecting my health,” Barros said. “I don’t want to sign out every time I feel bad (in the heat).”

Of its 553 elementary and high school buildings, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) said a full 160 do not have any air conditioning whatsoever. Another 219 TDSB schools have less than 50 per cent of their campus covered by air conditioning — which for many means as few as one room with a window box.