Petitions Demand Air Conditioning at Portage Park Elementary View Full Caption

PORTAGE PARK — Letters from dozens of Portage Park Elementary School students — accompanied by petitions signed by their parents — are in the mail to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, asking him to speed up plans to air-condition the neighborhood school.

A heat wave during the first week of school made classrooms on the third floor of the school's main building unbearable, according to parents, teachers and students. It was so hot that a plastic bag of crayons melted on a windowsill, said Local School Council Chairwoman Victoria Benson.

"No one should be forced to sit in that kind of heat," Benson said. "How can we expect them to learn anything?"

Heather Cherone says that crayons were melting in one classroom:

A petition and letter-writing drive launched on the first day of school has gathered nearly 600 signatures, Benson said. An online petition is up to 225 signatures.

All but 200 students at Portage Park Elementary School, 5330 W. Berteau Ave., attend class in the school's 100-year-old main building, which has no air conditioning, said Principal Maureen Ready.

Although an addition to the school built in 1999 has air conditioning, it works only sporadically, school officials said.

Along with the letters from students and the petitions, the packet soon to arrive in Emanuel's inbox includes a letter from the LSC asking Emanuel to reclassify the school as being without air conditioning rather than partially air-conditioned.

"We're ready to take this action further if we get no response," Benson said. "It is just not a conducive learning environment."

In August, Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett celebrated the completion of $20 million worth of work that installed air conditioning in 57 schools, the first phase of a multiyear plan to provide air conditioning in every CPS classroom.

With air conditioning "our students will be able to better concentrate on their studies instead of the temperature in the classroom, which is essential for a successful future,” Emanuel said.

A CPS spokesman did not respond to questions about the need for air conditioning at Portage Park Elementary School or the timeline for its installation.

Officials said schools that had no air conditioning were selected first — and officials chose schools from all over the city to ensure "geographic balance," according to the Aug. 19 statement from Emanuel and Bennett.

In 2013, 68 schools got air conditioning.

While Portage Park Elementary School students' test scores improved last year compared with the year before, the school still is ranked in the middle of the pack by CPS officials because of a low attendance rate, which Benson said the lack of air conditioning makes worse.

Fifty-six students who attend Portage Park Elementary School have asthma, and a number of students have been diagnosed with sensory disorders such as autism, Benson said. Air conditioning can make it much easier for those students to focus on schoolwork, she added.

The letter from the LSC asks the mayor to commit — in writing — to an expedited timeline for the installation of air conditioning throughout Portage Park Elementary School.

Benson said she hopes the letters from students — many of which feature drawings of kids with sweat pouring from their faces — catch city officials' attention.

"I don't know why Portage Park [Elementary School] gets lost in the shuffle," Benson said. "I guess we don't know the right people, or their kids don't go to school here."

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