Chalkbeat asks readers to share stories of cold classrooms

Do you know a child in Memphis with a cold classroom?

Chalkbeat Tennessee is creating a “heat map,” a map of classrooms without heat based, based on their readers' responses to a short questionnaire. That questionnaire can be found here.

The accompanying article notes that over the past year, at least 5,700 students at multiple schools across Shelby County and Achievement school districts missed class due to a lack of heat in the classroom. Power outages kept another 3,400 students from class.

When asked why they want to create a map of heat-less classrooms, Caroline Bauman, Chalkbeat Tennessee’s Memphis-based community editor and reporter, said that Chalkbeat has chronicled heat-related school closures during times of extreme cold, but they know whole-school closures don't tell the full story. 

Research shows that cold classrooms and other adverse environmental conditions can affect student learning. Test scores, attendance, and student performance all suffer when classrooms aren’t safe and comfortable. Bauman said this is why heat matters to parents and student and why the data they’ll produce is so important.

“We hear from readers every winter about the challenges of teaching or learning in a cold classroom when school isn't dismissed because of heating issues,” said Bauman. “We knew there wasn't a data set out there to show us how many classrooms struggle with heat and where they are located, so we decided it was time to create one.”

Bauman said that the timing of the research is especially relevant as Shelby County School reworks its facilities plan. Data collected for the heat map could potentially help inform decisions on funding or maintenance plans. 

“It's impossible to establish trends without accurate data,” said said.

“We know that our audiences have a lot of information to share with us, and we want to create more and more avenues for them to share what they know," Bauman continued. "This heat map is a perfect example of that.”