AUSD Notes: How Alameda schools are responding to heat waves

The biggest news on the Island this week has been the record-breaking heat wave that has swept across the West, and while Alameda has gotten a slight reprieve due to its coastal location, temperatures have soared far past the point of comfort.

Most of the Alameda Unified School District’s buildings were constructed between 1930 and 1980 and don’t have air conditioning. The exceptions are Love Elementary School and Lincoln Middle School, both of which have centralized swamp coolers.

We are now including air conditioning in our new construction (for instance, both of the renovated buildings at Historic Alameda High School and the new classroom building at Encinal Junior and Senior High School have air conditioning). Unfortunately, however, it would be prohibitively expensive to install AC in our older facilities ($7 to $8 million for the 200 building at Encinal Junior and Senior High alone and $6 million for the main classroom building at Edison Elementary). This is especially true given that over the last 20 years temperatures in Alameda have gone above 80 degrees an average of only 10 days per year.

In response to the heat, the AUSD does send fans to as many hot classrooms as possible and stays in in touch with site administrators, the Alameda County Office of Education and the county Public Health Department about best practices for modifying activities during high temperatures. In recognition that average temperatures will likely rise over the coming years, we are also looking into alternative cooling solutions.

Renaming Woodstock: At its Aug. 23 meeting, the AUSD Board of Education directed district staff to review the name of Woodstock Child Development Center. The board has expressed interest in renaming the facility after Ardella Dailey, the former WCDC director who also worked as an AUSD principal, administrator, superintendent and board member.

The AUSD has a policy that clearly sets out the steps needed to ensure that all voices are heard and all options considered during a renaming process — including reviewing the current name, creating a renaming committee, soliciting new names and surveying the community on which name they like best.

We will keep the community at large up to date on this process throughout the fall. You can also visit our WCDC Renaming webpage at bayareane.ws/renamingwoodstock.

Susan Davis is the Alameda Unified School District’s senior manager for community affairs. Reach her at 510-337-7175 or SDavis@alamedaunified.org.