Hundreds of SoCal classrooms lack AC amid historic heatwave

Southern California students have been melting inside insanely hot classrooms as record-breaking temperatures scorch the region.

Nearly 75% of classes in the Torrance Unified School District do not have air conditioners, making it difficult for students to stay focused.

“It’s been kind of like stressful. I’m sweating a lot… The heat makes you feel really weird, and it’s hard to concentrate on my work when it’s this hot,” one student from North High School told ABC 7.

“We’re making sure that cooling zones are located at all of our schools so that staff and students can rotate through,” said Sara Baillie, the director of communications for the Torrance Unified School District.

“We’ve got hydration stations, additional ice. We’ve brought in some slushees for the kids. We’re reminding them about wearing loose fitting clothing, having light colored clothing,” she added.

Most of the district’s 31 schools were constructed in the 1960s, leaving some classrooms feel uncomfortably hot.

Amid the heat wave, the district is considering whether to cancel classes. Officials are also figuring out measures to include air conditioning and solar panels to help power them.

This comes as parent frustration grew last month after discovering that many classrooms didn’t have access to air conditioning.

“It was really hot. I even had to make my own fan,” one elementary school student told KTLA.

There was a $520 million bond proposal to fix classrooms and fund air conditioning but the measure failed to get on the ballot.

This also comes in the middle of an intense heat wave across Southern California. The four-day streak of triple-digit temperatures in downtown Los Angeles is the longest ever and ties the record for the longest stretch any time this year.

Nine daily max temperature records were set across the region, including Downtown LA, Oxnard, Camarillo, LAX, Burbank, Long Beach, Woodland Hills and Santa Ana.

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