Newport Beach Teachers Told To Buy Electric Fans To Cool Classrooms

NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Teachers at a Newport Beach school were directed Thursday to buy a new, somewhat unusual tool to help them teach their classes – electric fans.

The superintendent of the Newport Harbor High School sent an email Thursday, advising teachers to buy fans and warning them of a heat advisory.

"It's hard to focus," student Anna Sandoval said. "You're just focusing on how hot it is in the classroom.

Temperatures in some classrooms at the Newport Beach campus registered in the mid-90s, Newport Mesa Unified School District board member Katrina Foley said.

"I received a text message from some of the teachers, showing me the thermostat in their classroom, 92, 95 degrees," Foley said. "You can't teach or learn in that environment."

A district spokesperson said that Newport Mesa Unified School District campuses have high-heat day plans in place that call for limited outdoor activities, rotating students through air-conditioned spaces on campus and keeping hydrated.

"As we are seeing the climate change, we are getting hotter days and more hot days than we've had in years past, and so we do need to address it,"

The superintendent has formed a special heat-advisory committee to come up with solutions and even a plan to put air conditioning units in all the classrooms in this district.