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Benchmark – Adverse Situations

Crystal McShane

Grand Canyon University: EAD 536

Submitted: May 31, 2021

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Benchmark – Adverse Situations

School leaders must be able to understand, follow, and promote school-based policies and

procedures to protect the welfare and safety of students and staff (NPBEA, 2011). This case

study analyzes the scenario where a principal of Sunset Hills in Phoenix, Arizona is faced with

the adverse situation of faulty central air conditioning units and rising temperatures. Sunset Hills

is a K-8 school with a population of 800 students. The midmorning temperature outside in May

is 98 degrees with regular school dismissal at 3:45 p.m.

Management and Operational Systems

The primary decision that must be made is how to keep the students and staff safe and

prevent overheating through heat exhaustion or heat stroke as temperatures in the main building

continue to climb with outside temperatures. To make this decision, the principal needs to know

how quickly the central air conditioning units can be repaired. The building superintendent can

look at the unit to see if it is a simple fix or contact the central office Construction and Safety

Assistant to quickly look at the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system or

bring a journeyman to the campus. Both of these people are available to respond quickly to

building maintenance issues during school hours and can evaluate the system for repair. If the

issue is a malfunctioning breaker, the journeyman or Construction and Safety Assistant could fix

the issues in less than thirty minutes.

The second piece of key information the principal needs to collect while the building

superintendent handles the work order and possible repair of the air conditioning is whether any

of the classrooms on campus have working air conditioning. While the main building does not

have working air conditioning, it is possible that other buildings on campus do have working air

conditioning. This would allow the principal to prepare for decisions of whether to shift affected
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classrooms to another building on campus until repairs can be made or evacuate if repairs cannot

be made before the situation with rising temperatures and a malfunctioning air conditioning

because unsafe for students and staff.

Human, Fiscal, and Technological Resources

Additional resources needed while the principal and building superintendent work to

repair the air conditioning or remove students from the classroom would be water and air flow

for both students and staff in the affected areas. This may include the purchase and distribution

of water bottles to students and staff in the main building. If the school or central office have

portable fans available, those may need to be placed in each classroom in the main building

while additional information is collected so an informed decision can be made.

The principal can use members of the safety committee to carry out these steps while

collecting information on unaffected classrooms. By activating the safety committee to distribute

water bottles and possibly fans, the principal and building superintendent can continue to work to

resolve the problem while students and staff in the affected area are made more comfortable and

safer. According to Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, Inc. (2016), fanning can increase

evaporative cooling to reduce the risk of heat illness. The school nurse, as a member of the safety

committee, can also advise the principal on other methods to reduce the risk of heat exhaustion

in students and staff. The nurse could also monitor students that are more sensitive to increase

temperatures due to underlying health conditions.

In addition to this, the principal can have one of the secretaries prepare an e-mail to the

staff to inform them of the issue This would prepare the teachers to transition to another area of

the school if needed, or if the HVAC system cannot be repaired the same day, advise teachers

that school may be dismissed if the issues is not resolved before classrooms reach unsafe
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temperatures. This would prepare staff members for the evacuation and reunification procedures.

Kitchen staff would be advised to prepare portable lunches, if possible, for the later lunch times

in case students need to be sent home early.

Safety and Welfare of Students and Staff

According to the Arizona Administrative code R7-6-213, classroom temperatures must be

maintained between 68 and 82 degrees. The CDC and OSHA have found that the risk of heat

stress begins at 85 degrees (Slowey, 2018). Based on this information, the classrooms affected by

the malfunctioning air conditioning will need to be evacuated before the room temperatures

passes 85 degrees. According to the district policy on emergency closings, the superintendent has

the power to close a school early if hazardous weather presents a threat to the safety of students

and staff on school property (ECSD, n.d.). District policy J on Student Welfare and Safety also

includes a section that requires each principal to maintain a workable guide for school safety

(ECSD, n.d.). This includes maintaining an emergency operating plan that can be followed for

unsafe weather conditions listed in this case study.

Collaboration with Faculty and Community

Key stakeholders involved in making the decision to repair the HVAC system the same

day and keep students on campus or evacuate the school are the safety team consisting of the

principal, building superintendent, nurse, counselor, one teacher per grade level or curricular

area, and a parent representative. The district superintendent may also be included in the decision

if the district Construction and Safety Assistant and contracted journeyman cannot repair the

HVAC system the same day and advise the superintendent to authorize an emergency closing.

Community members that are qualified to repair HVAC systems and have the parts needed to

repair the school unit may be brought in by the district Construction and Safety Assistant to
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repair the unit as contractors must be employed by the school district or receive special

permission from district office to work on school grounds. Students, families, campus staff

members, bus drivers, district employees, and the media will be affected by the decisions made

regarding this case.

Solution and Rationale

The root cause of the problem in this case study is the health risk to students and staff if

the air conditioning unit cannot be repaired before room temperatures exceed 85 degrees based

on the CDC and OSHA recommendation to avoid heat stress. The first step in this situation is to

quickly collect more information and then make an informed decision in this time sensitive

situation. The building superintendent would work with the district office to develop the

timeframe and resources needed to repair the HVAC system. Effective school principals would

need to inform the staff of the situation, the possibility of evacuation, and determine if the main

building is the only building affected or if other campus area have working air conditioning. The

school nurse would need to monitor students that are temperature sensitive due to underlying

health conditions.

While information is collected to make a decision in this case study, steps must be taken

to improve room conditions such as delivering water bottles and portable fans in the affected

rooms. In addition to the potential health threat if temperatures exceed 85 degrees, students learn

less when they are in a classroom with uncomfortable temperatures (Walker, 2018). School

leaders must promote the academic success and well-being of each students which is why steps

must be taken to monitor classroom temperatures and evacuate if those temperatures exceed a

safe level (NPBEA, 2015). By taking steps to counteract warmer temperatures, the school leader

would be promoting learning and a safe environment until a solution can be found.
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Once all the information is gathered regarding the resources needed to repair the

malfunctioning air conditioner unit and the time frame to repair them, a decision must be made

to either keep students in their current classroom, evacuate teachers and students to another

campus building with working air conditioning, or evacuate teachers and students from campus

with an early dismissal. This decision should be made collaboratively with the available safety

team members after reviewing the information collected, but it may need to be made quickly

without the full safety team as the facilities manager informed the principal that the central air

conditioning units were down at noon. By making a collaborative decision, it shows transparency

and includes different view points to evaluate the situation from different perspectives and avoid

overlooking the best possible solution. According to Desravines et al. (2016), it is important to be

transparent about the process when making decisions and to explain why a decision was made if

not all stakeholders can be included due to the urgent timeline of the decision.

If once all the information is gathered, the air conditioning cannot be repaired and there is

not an alternative location on campus for students to continue learning, then the principal would

need to activate the evacuation and reunification procedures in the emergency operating plan.

This would include the secretaries sending out an all-call automated message for parents to pick

up their students early at the reunification location off campus at the high school gymnasium.

Either the principal or secretary would contact the bus barn to transport students to the high

school. The high school gym would be used because it is listed in the emergency operating plan

as an off-campus evacuation point. Students would not ride the bus home until the regular

dismissal time if they have not been picked up at the high school by that time as this could cause

issues with students walking home in extreme temperatures. While evacuation and loss of

instructional time is not ideal, the health and safety of students and staff must come first.
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References

Ariz. Admin. Code § R7-6-213, Ariz. Admin. Code § 7-6-213 (2021).

Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, Inc. (2016). Hot weather, heat stress, and school safety.

Technical Information Bulletin No. 18. https://peacefulplaygrounds.com/pdf/heat-

advisory-plan-kyrene.pdf

Desravines, J., Aquino, J., and Fenton, B. (2016). Breakthrough Principals. San Francisco, CA.

https://www.gcumedia.com/digital-resources/wiley-and-sons/2016/breakthrough-

principals_a-step-by-step-guide-to-building-stronger-schools_1e.php

Elko County School District. (n.d.). District policy EBDD: Business management: Buildings and

grounds management: Safety: Emergency closing. ECSD.

https://go.boarddocs.com/nv/elkcsd/Board.nsf/Public#

Elko County School District. (n.d.). District policy JGC: Students: Student welfare: Student

safety. ECSD. https://go.boarddocs.com/nv/elkcsd/Board.nsf/Public#

National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA). (2015). Professional standards

for educational leaders. Reston, VA.: Author

Slowey, K. (2018). CDC, OSHA: Heat stress risk starts at 85 degrees Farenheit. Construction

Drive. https://www.constructiondive.com/news/cdc-osha-heat-stress-risk-starts-at-85-

degrees-fahrenheit/529151/

Walker, T. (2018). The heat is on: Educators, students forced to deal with sweltering classrooms.

NEA Today. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/heat-educators-

students-forced-deal-sweltering-classrooms