Imagine you’re an incoming freshman about to take your first high school test in English that you studied all night, just to arrive in class and have it feel like 100 degrees because there is no air conditioning in the building and your teachers refuse to open up a window. For classes in the main building, this is a reality. Luke Parent ’26 is tired of having to put up with unrelenting temperatures in school.
“It’s really unfortunate that the school can’t provide proper air conditioning for the whole school and not just the S-building,” Parent said. “I have five classes in the main building this year and it makes it hard to keep focus in classes when there’s no air.”
It’s not just the uncomfortable conditions teachers are worried about, main building English teacher Dan DeMarco has had to shift multiple lesson plans around in order to stay out of the heat.
“There have been multiple times throughout the school year that I’ve had to take my class down to the library and teach there,” DeMarco said. “Without the ability to leave the doors open to the hallway, my classroom becomes very overheated, especially in my afternoon classes.”
However, what many people don’t realize is that South is over 40 years older than North according to Grosse Pointe Chambers. In addition to the old air systems, teachers are unable to leave their doors open because it is a risk of security, Jack Danielewicz ‘26 said.
“It’s not just the fact that the building has extremely bad temperatures all throughout the spring and fall,” Danielewicz said. “But the fact that teachers aren’t even able to open their doors to get fresh air because of fear of getting into trouble with administration is.”
However, a lot of people are hopeful for better upgrades of the air systems in the main building.
“Hopefully with the art teachers being moved from the IA building to the main building the administration will finally see the importance of providing air conditioning to the classrooms,” Parent said.
