Teachers Try to Beat the Heat
As extreme heat rises in Orlando, Fla., teachers turn to collective bargaining to ensure comfortable, air-conditioned classrooms.
McKenna Schueler
ORLANDO, FLA. — Summer break is coming to a close, and high school math teacher Ashley Modesto is worried about whether her students will be able to sit through class. Not because of the subject matter, but because — more and more frequently — her classroom is sweltering.
Now, Modesto’s union — the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association (CTA) — is fighting to cool things down.
A classroom teacher of 10 years in Orange County Public Schools — the nation’s eighth-largest school district — Modesto is haunted by a particular memory from two years ago. Her school’s air-conditioning system “completely” went out, and in her class of roughly 30 students, the packed room quickly grew hot and stagnant. Mere days into the school year, students left early “because they were so uncomfortable.”
In September 2024, a malfunctioning AC system in her district sent several students to the hospital with heat-related illness. A district spokesperson described the incident to In These Times as an “unfortunate situation.” Teachers organized with the CTA have recorded classroom temperatures higher than 85 degrees, while the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education recommends a maximum of 82 degrees.
This year is trailing just behind 2024 as the world’s hottest on record. In 2024, the Florida Policy Institute found the state led the nation in hospital visits for heat-related illness. Between 2017 and 2021, its report estimates 150 Floridians died of a heat-related condition.
Decades of state disinvestment in public education have left schools in Orange County unprepared. Modesto — the CTA’s treasurer — says one contributing factor to the heat is that teachers aren’t permitted to open “access points” such as doors or windows as a security measure when class is in session, because of a 2024 state law.
All told, Orange County is just one of an estimated 41% of public school districts in the United States that need to update or replace heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in “at least” half of their schools, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Historically, an Orange County teacher’s primary recourse has been to file individual complaints with school administrators. This year, the CTA — a union representing nearly 14,000 classroom teachers and instructional staff across the district’s 210 public schools — is addressing the issue head-on, in collective bargaining.
“Every student and educator deserves a safe and comfortable classroom,” says Clinton McCracken, CTA president. According to McCracken, a former middle school art teacher, heat has become a top issue alongside wages, based on an annual survey sent ahead of bargaining.
Under the union’s current proposal, the district would be required to ensure temperatures in “any assigned workspace” never drop below 68 degrees or rise above 79 degrees. When they do, the school administrator would be obligated to relocate students and staff or bring in portable AC units “until the issue is resolved.”
The union’s effort isn’t without precedent. According to the CTA’s parent union, the Florida Education Association, contracts with similar protective language have begun sweeping across the state. This includes unions in smaller, redder districts, like Bradford and Hamilton counties.
This fight has gained so much traction largely because Florida schools aren’t bound by temperature guidelines, unlike childcare facilities, which are temperature-regulated by the state.
Megan Oates, an early childhood instructor at the public Orange Technical College, points out that hot temperatures have effects far beyond comfort. According to a working paper from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, overheated classrooms have caused some children to become irritable and distracted, which disrupts the development of healthy emotional regulation. The Environmental Protection Agency points out that physiological differences between adults and children can make the latter especially vulnerable to dangers of extreme heat, in part because they warm up faster and don’t sweat as much.
“Schools are your backbone of your communities,” Oates, a 20-year educator, tells In These Times. When “everybody is struggling” in the school, then “it’s going to impact how they feel when they’re leaving school and even interacting with others.”
In Florida, educators face a historically hostile environment. For example, in 2024, Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature barred local governments from establishing any heat safety mandates for employers at the urging of the Florida Chamber of Commerce and business lobbyists.
When the CTA tried to get heat safety language approved in 2023, the district rejected the proposal outright, according to McCracken. Federal OSHA does not regulate public sector workplaces, but some public sector union contracts do have a safety provision addressing the basic right to a workplace “free from recognized hazards” likely to cause serious harm.
In an email to In These Times, a district spokesperson wrote that preventative maintenance “is continuously performed” but breakdowns do occur, and when “an issue is reported, staff immediately responds.” The district declined to discuss details of the ongoing bargaining efforts.
Despite the roadblocks, McCracken is tentatively hopeful the school district will recognize the importance of addressing heat safety. So far, the district hasn’t outright rejected the proposal and, McCracken says, has even acknowledged the problem. As longtime teacher Oates says, “If we have contract language, then we can actually work through the grievance and arbitration process.” Plus, “There’s strength in numbers.”
McKenna Schueler is a staff reporter for Orlando Weekly in Florida, where she covers labor issues, local news and politics. Her work has also appeared in Strikewave, Facing South, Protean Mag and Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
