Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett today announced the first phase of the five-year plan to provide air conditioning to every classroom. As part of this plan, 57 schools will now have all classrooms air conditioned for the 2014-2015 school year. With this investment, CPS will have provided air conditioned classrooms at 125 schools in two years.

“Air conditioning is one of the classroom resources CPS is investing in in their capital budget to provide positive, comfortable learning environments for every student to be 100 percent college-ready and 100 percent college-bound,” Mayor Emanuel said. “This investment will also mean that the 42,000 CPS students who attend summer programs will have a safe, cool place to be during those months when they are either in summer school or a summer program.”

The first phase of this plan will cost approximately $20 million, and is estimated to cost approximately $20 million each subsequent year. Installation will begin this summer, and CPS will work around students summer school schedules to not disrupt instructional time.

“This investment is consistent with what parents, teachers and principals agree students need in the classrooms and will better allow students and teachers to do the work they need to do to succeed,” CEO Bryd-Bennett said. “Bringing air conditioning to all of our schools has been discussed for over 50 years and we are finally able to deliver by putting forth a strategic investment plan over a five-year period. “

The fifty seven schools to receive classroom air conditioning this summer are distributed throughout the City and are primarily schools with the highest need that are currently without any air conditioning in the building or with only partial air conditioning. This investment in air conditioning is part of CPS’s larger FY15 capital plan that will be announced on Friday, which will prioritize key investments that create positive, comfortable learning environments, and modernize classrooms to provide students with a 21st century education. This capital plan includes funding for repairs, upgrades, and school improvements across the District while streamlining CPS’ approach to capital spending.

This investment will add to air conditioning that Mayor Emanuel and the Board installed in 2014 at 68 schools including the 55 welcoming schools.

The full list of schools receiving air conditioning is below:

John Barry Elementary School
Newton Bateman Elementary School
Hiram H Belding Elementary School
Daniel Boone Elementary School
Norman A Bridge Elementary School
Lyman A Budlong Elementary School
Burnside Elementary Scholastic Academy
Jonathan Burr Elementary School
Marvin Camras Elementary School
Rachel Carson Elementary School
Henry R Clissold Elementary School
Christopher Columbus Elementary School
Stephen Decatur Classical Elementary School
James R Doolittle Elementary School
Fairfield Elementary Academy
Christian Fenger Academy High School
Fernwood Elementary School
Melville W Fuller Elementary School
Frank L Gillespie Elementary School
Johann W von Goethe Elementary School
William C Goudy Elementary School
Frank W Gunsaulus Elementary Scholastic Academy
William Rainey Harper High School
Helge A Haugan Elementary School
John Hay Elementary Community Academy
Stephen K Hayt Elementary School
Thomas A Hendricks Community Academy
Patrick Henry Elementary School
Theodore Herzl Elementary School
Charles N Holden Elementary School
Gurdon S Hubbard High School
Inter-American Elementary Magnet School
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Elementary School
Kate S Kellogg Elementary School
Charles Kozminski Elementary Community Academy
Arthur A Libby Elementary School
George B McClellan Elementary School
Louis Nettelhorst Elementary School
North River Elementary School
William J Onahan Elementary School
William Bishop Owen Scholastic Academy ES (K-8)
Park Manor Elementary School
Ambrose Plamondon Elementary School
George M Pullman Elementary School
Ravenswood Elementary School
Washington D Smyser Elementary School
Spencer Technology Academy (Pre-K-8)
Betty Shabazz – Sizemore campus
Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School
Talman Elementary School
James N Thorp Elementary School
Velma F Thomas Early Childhood Center
Charles H Wacker Elementary School
James Ward Elementary School
Harold Washington Elementary School
Thomas J Waters Elementary School
Ella Flagg Young Elementary School

List of schools that received air conditioning in 2013-14:

Ira F Aldridge Elementary School
Alice L Barnard Computer Math & Science Center Elementary School
Clara Barton Elementary School
Perkins Bass Elementary School
Ludwig Van Beethoven Elementary School
Carrie Jacobs Bond Elementary School
Bowen High School
Lorenz Brentano Math & Science Academy Elementary School
Edmond Burke Elementary School
Burnham Elementary Inclusive Academy (K-8)
William W Carter Elementary School
George Washington Carver Primary School
Rosario Castellanos Elementary School
Salmon P Chase Elementary School
Frederic Chopin Elementary School
Mary E Courtenay Elementary Language Arts Center
George W Curtis Elementary School
Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary School
Dewey Elementary Academy of Fine Arts
Jose De Diego Elementary Community Academy
John B Drake Elementary School
John Foster Dulles Elementary School
Leif Ericson Elementary Scholastic Academy
Esmond Elementary School
Michael Faraday Elementary School
John Fiske Elementary School
Fort Dearborn Elementary School
John Milton Gregory Elementary School
Walter Q Gresham Elementary School
Alex Haley Elementary Academy
Charles G Hammond Elementary School
Bret Harte Elementary School
John Harvard Elementary School of Excellence
Helen M Hefferan Elementary School
Charles Evans Hughes Elementary School
Jensen Elementary Scholastic Academy
Scott Joplin Elementary School
Lawndale Elementary Community Academy
George Leland Elementary School
George Manierre Elementary School
Thurgood Marshall Middle School
Benjamin E Mays Elementary Academy
James B McPherson Elementary School
Genevieve Melody Elementary School
Ellen Mitchell Elementary School
Irvin C Mollison Elementary School
Morton School of Excellence (K-8)
Mount Vernon Elementary School
Nicholson Technology Academy (Pre-K – 8)
Northwest Middle School
Isabelle C O'Keeffe Elementary School
James Otis Elementary School
Owens (formerly known as Gompers)
John J Pershing Elementary Humanities Magnet
William H Ray Elementary School
William C Reavis Math & Science Specialty ES (Pre-K – 8)
Paul Revere Elementary School
William H Ryder Math & Science Specialty ES (K-8)
Maria Saucedo Elementary Scholastic Academy
Jesse Sherwood Elementary School
John M Smyth Elementary School
South Shore Fine Arts Academy (K-8)
Charles Sumner Math & Science Community Academy ES (K-8)
Mancel Talcott Elementary School
George W Tilton Elementary School
Laura S Ward Elementary School
Ida B Wells Preparatory Elementary Academy
Daniel S Wentworth Elementary School

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