When designing a school of any kind, student comfortability is a key component. A major factor in making a classroom comfortable is to optimize the room's temperature. In this aspect, the Boothbay Region High School misses the mark.

The indoor temperature of the high school is very inconsistent across rooms, and across seasons. While some rooms have balanced temperatures, other rooms are irritatingly warm or frigid. During the warmer months of the school year, teachers bring in their own box fans, as the air conditioning is not sufficient to cool down the classrooms. Sadly, the box fans can only do so much to quell the heat, as a fan is unable to cool down an entire classroom. Many box fans are provided by the school to teachers, but are not in every classroom. A number of teachers have been given air conditioning devices, which are more helpful than box fans, but are still absent in some of the hottest classrooms. The amount of fans and AC units throughout the school demand a great amount of energy, which is inefficient and costly.

I asked Facilities Director Mr. David Benner how much it would cost to replace all the thermal insulation in the high school. He responded that the cost would likely be above 3 million dollars which would include roofs, windows, doors, the heating & ventilation system, and the exterior building envelope. I also asked if this endeavor would be worth it in the long run, to which he answered "Certainly!"

I created a survey for all students and teachers at BRHS that asked how they felt about the temperature of the high school. I received 32 responses on this survey on the first day, and the responses were mostly unanimous. When asked whether or not they thought the high school has good thermal insulation, 87.5% of responders answered "no." When asked whether or not they thought the school was inconsistent in temperature throughout the building, 84.4% of responders said "yes." Finally, when asked whether or not they thought the temperature of a classroom affects student learning, 87.5% of responders answered "yes." There was also a section where responders were prompted to share what rooms they thought had the most inconsistent temperatures. The responses to that question are very diverse, with most of the school’s classrooms being mentioned at least once. Some classrooms in particular were mentioned frequently though, some of which do not have any fans or AC devices.

The high school should take an initiative to provide a more comfortable learning environment by addressing the varying temperatures across classrooms.