Retrofitting AC in a school

December 28, 2001

I have a question for the group. I am looking for suggestions to present to

my state congressman in favor of installing an air conditioning system in an

older school (1960s construction) that does not currently have it. Let me

give you a very brief background.

The state Dept. of Transportation (DOT) is funding a 4-lane, limited access

expressway that will be located 500 yards behind the school building.

Construction should start in 1 1/2 years, and could last 2 years. They did

agree to install a sound barrier between the school and the expressway. I

believe that the barrier will be installed after the road is finished,

meaning that all the noise from the construction will be unimpeded at the

school itself. The school does not have air conditioning, so the windows

are typically left open in the fall, the spring and early summer.

There are several children at the school that have significant hearing

losses, one of which is my daughter. She has a moderate loss and uses

hearing aids. My son is 4 years old, has a profound loss and uses a

cochlear implant. He will start there in 2 years.

The Home & School Association is working with the state DOT to ameliorate

the effects of the construction on the school population. The DOT is

willing to consider adding the cost of installing AC to the construction

project, since keeping the windows open during construction would allow

excessive noise and dust into the school.

I am open to suggestions of what to tell the project engineers from the DOT,

and the state congressman about the adverse effects of noise on HOH children

in the classroom. Remember, I have to keep it very short and simple. I

want to also ask them to have the AC system design evaluated by an acoustic

engineer. Noisy HVAC systems would be as bad as simply leaving the windows

open. I want to be able to say, in a nice way, that if they install a noisy

HVAC system, I will make them go back and do it correctly through

modifications to my child's IEP. I would like to also make them aware of

the impending standards for classroom acoustics. Where are the standards in

the legislative process right now? Am I missing anything else that needs to

be brought up?

TIA,

, mom to (9,HAs), (7,no loss), (4, Clarion CI

7/99)

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