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Delta District's Energy Saving Plan Quashed by Frosty Feelings

Parents, teachers upset over proposed 'cozy day' temperature drop.

Katie Hyslop 23 Oct 2014TheTyee.ca

Katie Hyslop reports on education and youth issues for The Tyee. Follow her on Twitter.

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Delta School District's 'cozy days' plan will no longer include a temperature drop. Cold kid photo via Shutterstock.

A chilly reception from teachers and parents has led to the Delta School District abandoning plans to drop school temperatures by two degrees once a month.

Last week district administrative staff received an email from deputy superintendent Garnet Ayres informing them of plans to lower school temperatures on the first Friday of every month from November to February "in the spirit of energy conservation."

The email went on to suggest theme days to make the event fun: "wear your favourite hoodie day"; "superman fleece blanket day"; or "wear your ugliest sweater day." Ayres proposed taking photos of kids and staff wearing "animated" winter clothes, adding media may show interest.

"I can make that happen very easily," he wrote.

Delta Teachers Association's first vice-president Arabella Bowman told The Tyee school district engineer Frank Geyer confirmed the temperature drop plans last week. He also told her school temperature is a constant 21.5 degrees Celsius.

WorkSafe BC guidelines for air quality recommend keeping indoor temperatures between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius during winter.

In a phone conversation with Bowman and association president Paul Steer, Steer said a two-degree temperature drop would bring classroom temperatures down to 19.5 degrees. But heaters wouldn't actually kick in until the temperature dropped two degrees below that to 17.5 degrees, he said.

"These kinds of initiatives are probably well intentioned," Steer told The Tyee. "However, in practical terms, kids don't learn that well when they're not well fed or when they're cold."

'Cozy days' still on: Ayres

On Wednesday a second email from Ayres backed down on the temperature drop. "The good news is that cozy days are still on. Everyone is encouraged to bring a sweater to wear that day," the email read.

"Due to a number of circumstances however, the other news is that we won't be dropping the temperature district wide. Delta Green Committee is being reformed and will review the plans going forward."

In an interview with The Tyee, Ayres confirmed he sent both emails, the first to district administrators and the second to administrators and teachers. He said the temperature reduction was dropped because of miscommunication over the event and its purpose.

"People were thinking that it was going to be an ongoing temperature drop; there must be some ulterior motive, we're saving money -- this is a cost saving measure," he said, adding he was getting calls from parents upset about the temperature drop.

"[It was] none of that, absolutely none of that. But people were thinking what they will."

Climate, not cost, motivated plan: Ayres

Ayres said the idea for cooling the schools on cozy days came from the National Sweater Day website, a World Wildlife Fund initiative. "If all Canadians lowered their thermostats by just two degrees Celsius this winter," the site reads, "it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about four megatons -- equivalent to shutting down a 600 mega watt coal-fired power station."

Pictures on the site show students at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Island University -- where temperatures stayed down for five straight days -- participated in the event last February.

Delta students will still be encouraged to wear sweaters on cozy day because "after all it is winter," said Ayres. But the district's green committee, whose membership includes teachers, will review cozy days to discuss how to keep it tied to energy conservation.

Delta schools are heated by a combination of gas-operated boilers and geothermal heating units drawing heat from the earth to warm buildings. Ayres confirmed that like any heating system it's difficult to maintain a constant exact temperature, but the goal temperature is 21.5 degrees.

Although energy efficiency is not part of the curriculum, the assistant superintendent stressed the importance of educating students about climate change and how to reduce their carbon footprint. And in Delta school district this year, it starts with putting on a sweater.  [Tyee]

Read more: Energy, Education

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