With spring approaching the Indianapolis area, the weather has been changing sporadically over the past few weeks. From constant rainfall, to warm and sunny days, Indiana weather has kept students at Perry on their toes.
“I’m a big fan of the rain and spring in general, so the warmer, rainier weather has been a nice change in my eyes,” senior Ram Tin Khai said.
“I generally enjoy the rain. The weather has been a bit wonky recently but I think rain is good,” junior Anders Sorensen said.
Students are not the only ones having to adjust to these weather changes. The high school heating and cooling systems are also adjusting to the constant changing of temperature. Over the past week, students have felt a harsh humidity permeate the halls and their classrooms. Jackets that students wore to bear the harsh, cold winds in the morning are being carried around instead of worn.
“It was just annoying and inconvenient really. Ms. Davis’ 6th period was particularly bad. I think it has much worse ventilation than my other classes” Khai said.
“When the humidity first started it was really bad in the dungeon. It’s definitely more upstairs than downstairs, but it is generally the classes in the middle of the school rather than the outside,” junior Sydeney Sales said.
Sales has gone a step further in combatting the humidity. She decided to bring a battery powered fan to her classes with her.
“I don’t like being hot so I always bring this fan on vacation with me. On Friday, especially at that pep rally and in my classroom, I literally couldn’t stand [the humidity] and I was like, ‘I have a solution to my problem’ so I brought my fan,” Sales said.
Teachers across the building took measures to reduce the humidity in their rooms for the comfort of their students and themselves. Government teacher Patrick Chambers is not unfamiliar with humidity problems in his classroom.
“I can’t control the amount of moisture in the air, but I’ve always had a tower fan, a desk fan, and I have an air purifier because this room is very dusty. I have watermarks from ceiling tiles on the back wall so maybe that’s where some of the humidity comes from,” Chambers said.
The school sent out a message stating that the chillers were not able to be turned on until after break stating district policy.
“The building is 50 something years old and it’s just kind of the way it is. It’s gotten so bad that I have shorts in here because I’m not going to be uncomfortable if the heat is so bad,” Chambers said.
“I don’t know how long this rule has been in effect for, but when it is over 70 degrees and it is very humid in the school, it’s a problem when students are dealing with that when trying to get an education,” Sorensen said.
Indiana weather is a constantly unpredictable force that forces students and teachers to adapt on the fly. With district policy that seems to not consider the wellbeing of those in classrooms, unrest has only grown over this past week. Overall, this humidity has interrupted the core purpose of school: learning.
