116- Cold Classroom

My classroom was bitterly cold when I arrived to work this morning. So cold, in fact, that I did not want to remove my down coat. Many of my students also opted to keep their jackets on. I adjusted the thermostat several times and it always read 72 degrees, yet the kids continued to shiver. I knew their must be an error.
At lunch time, Principal announced that it was too cold outside for recess. My students moaned and groaned at the idea of indoor recess; they would be forced to resort to board games and Uno! Cards. District policy states that kids are not allowed outside to play if the temperature is below 40 degrees. South Carolina children are not accustomed to chilly weather. It was in the high 30s when we sat down to lunch.
I made a comment at the Teacher’s Table about my broken thermostat.
The teachers responded with indignant snorts and bitter laughter. “Your thermostat ain’t broken, honey. They’re all like that. None of ‘em work. The District controls the temperature from their maintenance office.”
“What temperature do they keep it on?”
Esther rolled her eyes and patted me on the shoulder, “You better just bundle up,” she advised. “Wear lots of layers.”
It was then that I noticed that Esther was wearing several layers of clothing. She wore a turtle neck, a sweater, and a wool cardigan. Looking around the table, I discovered that all of my colleagues were wearing an uncomfortably copious amount of clothing.
“Well, what temperature do they keep it at?” I asked again.
My question evoked more displeased grunts and snorts. “The District claims that they keep it on 70, but we all know that’s BS. We freeze every year around this time.”
“That’s crazy. Don’t they know how cold this school is?”
“Oh, they know all right, but they don’t care. They’re cheap. Remember, honey, you’re teaching at a poor school in a poor district. If The District let us control our own heat, they’d go broke. They gotta keep tight tabs on their electricity bill. That’s what it all comes down to: money and the budget.”
A poor school, in a poor district. The words rang in my ears.
“The kids, they’re so cold!” I protested, “How could The District get away with this?”
Again my colleagues laughed. “At a school like this, there’s no one to complain. Most parents don’t care, and the ones who do are too intimidated by school administrators to say anything. The District banks on slack parental involvement, they can get away with murder in a school like this…”
The teachers went on and on about how The District takes advantage of them and the kids and the parents in our community. I didn’t know what to take seriously, many teachers are into “conspiracy theories” that the system is out to get them. But, as they spoke, I thought to myself, I know a few parents who would care. Maybe I could sway a mom or two to complain about the temperature.