All but 13 of the schools in the Baltimore County (Md.) district have central air conditioning, County Executive Kevin Kamenetz says.
Kamenetz and School Superintendent Dallas Dance told members of the County’s house and senate delegations that adding air conditioning to schools has been a key priority of the county’s $1.3 billion Schools for our Future program. In addition to building and renovating many schools, the program calls for installing central air conditioning at 90 campuses.
“When I was elected in 2010, our school infrastructure was in sad state, with 80 percent of our schools more than 40 years old,” says Kamenetz. “Ninety schools did not have air conditioning, we had severe overcrowding at the elementary school level, and our schools needed serious technology and security upgrades."
Of the 13 schools still without central air conditioning, six are campuses that are to be replaced in the near future.
Last year, the state of Maryland approved a waiver that allowed the county school system to fast-track installation of air conditioning at 12 schools.
