Over heated students get relief at school board meeting

Yucaipa - If the 45 parents and 10 children who attended the Yucaipa-Calimesa School District school board meeting expected some "heat" from the board members and district administrators, they were pleasantly surprised during a special meeting, Tuesday.

Due to severe budget cuts from the state, the school board had approved budget reductions which included changing thermostat temperature set points to those recommended by Southern California Edison and the California Energy Commission - 68 degrees for heating, and 78 degrees for air conditioning. Before the changes, heat was set at 70 degrees, and air conditioning at 76 degrees.

Several of the parents attending the meeting said that 78 degrees was much to high and that their children had difficulty studying, concentrating, and came home exhausted and tired from excessive classroom heat.

During the meeting, studies were referenced that showed students in classrooms in which temperatures rose above 74 degrees had diminished skills in reading and math. Parents also said that they were worried about the effects of an over heated classroom on teachers' ability to teach.

If the parents expected resistance to their concerns, they got none. Unanimously the board voted in favor of a 4-degree override in classrooms, which permits teachers to manually lower thermostats to 74 degrees from the 78 degree set point. That decision was greeted with a huge round of applause.

In other business, Tony Bennett was announced as the new principal for Yucaipa Elementary School. Bennett is expected to assume his new role in two to three weeks, said Y-CJUSD Superintendent, Dr. Sherry Kendrick, Ed. D.

"He is coming from the Adelanto district where he has had a lot of success," Kendrick said, adding that Bennett's wife, Christina Bennett, teaches at Parkview Middle School.