How should a student at Lexington High School choose their outfit in the morning? Based on the weather that day, one would think. Students should wear heavier clothing with more layers on cooler days and dress more lightly on warmer ones, right? Wrong, say the LHS buildings, which vary greatly in temperature.
It’s no secret that LHS has an issue when it comes to temperature differences between different buildings. While the math building feels as if it has no air conditioning whatsoever, the modular buildings blast the AC constantly. While the occasional classroom is well-regulated, it’s not uncommon for some to be excessively hot or unnecessarily cool—this problem causes discomfort for hundreds of students across campus.
It’s not just students who are impacted—teachers, staff, and administrators also suffer from the lack of a properly managed temperature system at LHS. Take an educator spending their day teaching students in the math building. This teacher has to spend several hours a day educating students in near-tropical temperatures which most certainly makes productive teaching harder than it already is.
We all know this temperature trouble isn’t the only problem our school has to fix, though. LHS students experience large-scale hallway congestion in between periods, long distances between classrooms, and other inconveniences caused by our old buildings. It’s become glaringly obvious that LHS is in need of some assistance.
Fortunately, we’ve all heard of the town’s plans to rebuild our outdated school building—these discussions have been around for quite some time. However, despite the striking need for a new campus, construction is not expected to begin until 2027 and likely won’t conclude until 2030. Certain construction projects that are under consideration are even listed as having an expected duration of 6.25 years. Assuming the town doesn’t begin the construction process until 2027, we’d be waiting until 2033—almost a decade—for a new school building and solutions to the problems we face daily here at LHS.
A plan for a new high school shouldn’t prevent the school from investing in upgrades and fixes. Straightforward solutions such as in-room air conditioners, heaters, and simply adjusting systems to turn off AC in excessively cool classrooms could provide a temporary, low-cost, and quick solution to these problems. Let’s hope our school addresses these troubles soon. In the meantime, we can appreciate that at least our temperatures across the buildings here at LHS will remain consistent. Consistently inconsistent, that is.