At Scappoose High School during the warmer months, the library could freeze you to your core. While A-4 could melt your skin off — by the end of the class period, you could be sitting in a puddle of your own sweat.

The drastically varying temperatures from room to room have been known to make completing classwork, learning and taking tests more difficult. 

Scappoose High School is heated throughout the entire school but only a few parts of the school have air conditioning. Including the library, main office, counseling office, the bubble between Mr. Sprenger and Mrs. LoPriorie’s room, B-4, and Mr. Poster’s room.

The Harvard Kennedy School did a study on how heat affects students taking the PSAT. Results show that hotter school days reduce learning. The trial began without air conditioning, each degree increase in temperature reduces the amount of learning in the school year.

The last point made in the Harvard Kennedy study states that in the future, benefits of having air conditioning in the school would outweigh the costs. But is this presumed gain still applicable at Scappoose High School?

Each air conditioning unit can cost a minimum of $3000 to $4000. Bigger units can cost two to four times that amount. Then, each room can cost between 36 cents to 90 cents per hour.

According to the Harvard Kennedy study, the Students of SHS would benefit from climate control.