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New York Students and Teachers Won’t Have to Take the Heat Much Longer

The Left Place
4 min readJan 4, 2025

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Photo by Sam Balye on Unsplash

No surprise, 2024 was hot.

Also no surprise, it was the hottest year on record just like 2023 before it, and 2022 before that.

Prediction: this year is going to surpass all of them.

There is literally nothing the climate crisis does not affect, from immigration to food supplies and prices, national and international security, transportation, housing, and education.

“Education?” you ask. “What does climate change have to do with education?”

If you’ve spent any time in a school, you might be among the lucky few to have been in one that was air conditioned during the spring and late fall when kids return to classrooms.

But, despite the expectation that American classrooms should always be comfortable learning environments, the truth is too many are routinely too hot for students in the warmer months and too cold in the winter. Such conditions significantly hinder students’ learning.

Subjecting students and school staff to extreme temperatures also conveys a lack of respect. Students are required to report to a place most don’t want to be only to be forced to sit for seven hours uncomfortable. Teachers are left feeling even more underappreciated.

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The Left Place
The Left Place

Written by The Left Place

Ted Millar is a teacher, poet, and political writer for The Left Place. See also and subscribe to the Substack newsletter: https://theleftplace.substack.com/. t

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