More fans and shade structures, and even delaying the start of the school year, were proposed as heat mitigation measures during the Goleta Union School District Board of Education meeting Wednesday amid a blistering heat wave.

The board met on one of the hottest days of the week to hear a presentation from district staff about heat impacts in classrooms and possible short- and long-term cooling solutions.

Hollister Elementary School teacher Victoria Aguirre said that on Wednesday, her first-grade classroom hit a high of 87 degrees, which had never happened before. 

“That’s just not acceptable for our kids to be working in,” she said.

Air conditioning at the Goleta Union School District is relatively limited, according to Superintendent Mary Kahn. 

The areas on school sites with air conditioning include the portable classrooms, she added. 

As a result, teachers have been using fans to help cool their classrooms. 

“I know it’s pretty standard that we all have one fan installed, and right now it is just circulating hot air,” Aguirre said.

Since the beginning of the school year for the Goleta Union School District in August, it’s been hit with multiple heat waves. The region broke daily heat records on Wednesday.

A survey conducted during an August heat wave found that Ellwood Elementary School was the coolest campus while Mountain View Elementary was the warmest, according to Matt Spencer, district director of maintenance, operations and transportation.

Ellwood Elementary saw frequent peaks of 76 degrees, while Mountain View Elementary saw frequent peaks of 82 degrees, according to the data.

The temperatures were collected during school hours, and Spencer acknowledged that they could have increased after school.

Similar data from other campuses will be used to inform district leaders about the classroom conditions.

School principals have been surveying classroom temperatures during hot days, according to Aguirre.

On Wednesday, she pushed for more resources. 

This year, additional shade structures, fans, and permanent and temporary shade structures were expanded, and staff identified on-campus cool relief spaces, according to Jordan Goines, assistant superintendent of fiscal services. 

Additionally, the district follows the National Weather Service advisories and urges families to equip their students with water and sunscreen, according to John Schettler, assistant superintendent of pupil services.

The district also cancels outside play during the hottest parts of the day, and playground supervisors use misters during recess and lunch, he added.  

“Even with those things in place, we know that on days like today, the heat is impressive,” Schettler said. 

Some short-term solutions such as pop-up shade structures can be implemented “rather quickly,” according to Goines. 

Board member Sholeh Jahangir advocated for classrooms to have more than one fan and inquired how teachers can get more.

“They shouldn’t have to run around begging for a fan,” she said. 

The school community also has been helpful during heat waves, Kahn said. 

Many school sites are seeing parents lend extra fans, and the Parent-Teacher Association at Brandon Elementary School supported the funding of an additional shade structure. 

The board also considered some long-term solutions, including implementing air-conditioning districtwide and even shifting the academic calendar to start after Labor Day in September for future years. 

Schettler said it is important to consider future solutions now as the district expects a trend of increasingly hotter temperatures in coming years. 

Board member Emily Zacarias supported delaying the start of the school year until after Labor Day.

“It makes no sense to go back to school in the middle of August when it’s so bloody hot,” she said. 

However, she acknowledged that September doesn’t see cooler temperatures either. 

The Goleta Union School District is also beginning to eye air conditioning. 

District staff started to get quotes on what implementing air conditioning could be on varying scales, including the whole district or just certain communal areas of the campuses, such as the multipurpose room or library, according to Kahn. 

She guesses it could be up to a $60 million project to outfit the whole district with air conditioning, but she is still waiting on an official estimate.

Goines also said the air conditioning is “not the hard part,” but it’s the electrical grid that needs upgrading, which would “need a significant investment.” 

Board members urged district leaders to explore possible funding sources and host a public discussion before next summer.

“We want tangible steps,” Zacarias said. “We keep tabling it when it gets cool, and this issue is not going away.”

For now, school leaders will be conducting an inventory of available fans for classrooms and placing pop-up shade structures and some portable air conditioning units at some campuses. 

Once the weather cools down, district leaders then will turn their attention to long-term planning, Goines said.