A public school district in the Orlando, Florida area has been dealing with “ongoing” air conditioning “issues,” and it’s entirely unsurprising when you dig into the district’s priorities.

First, from a new report by Miguel Rodriguez, published at Hoodline today:

A sense of urgency has gripped local teachers with rising temperatures within Orange County school classrooms due to malfunctioning air conditioning systems. 

The Orange County Classroom Teachers Association is again bringing safety to the forefront after cooling issues continue to disrupt classrooms and affect students' well-being. 

According to WFTV, Ocoee Middle School’s failed AC resulted in classrooms heating up to 85 degrees and three students being hospitalized on Monday.

Per rodriguez, president Clinton McCracken of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association (the local teachers union) alleged that he had photographic evidence showing the extreme indoor temperatures; Rodriguez also reports that the situation at Ocoee Middle School is not an “isolated breakdown” but one occurrence in an “ongoing” incidents, as there were similar problems just last week at two local elementary schools, Timber Lakes and Stone Lakes.

Now when I read this, I immediately wondered about the political influences on the district, suspecting that perhaps the progressive “climate change” narrative had a foothold, and had something to do with the failed air conditioning systems. It took me all of three seconds to uncover, and… I was right on the money. From a press release at the school district’s own website in 2022:

Orange County Public Schools rolls out Sustainability 2030. The goal is to inspire action among students and staff to improve the environment and make a positive social impact in our community while reducing costs to keep dollars in the classroom. The plan is to be used as a road map to navigate change over the next nine years.

The development of OCPS Sustainability 2030 ensures alignment with local municipalities’ sustainability goals, the United States Green Building Council’s whole school sustainability framework, and the United Nation’s 17 sustainable development goals. Input from over 47,000 staff, students, parents and community members helped to develop the plan for OCPS. A total of five sustainability targets were identified as priorities.

The middle school’s home website is also emblazoned with Pride and “Pulse Remembrance” Month marketing material; “Pulse Remembrance” is for the Pulse nightclub where Islamic jihadist Omar Mateen massacred gay clubgoers. Furthermore, Orlando is a Democrat stronghold in the state; for reference, it largely falls in Florida’s 10th Congressional District, currently represented by the Gen Z Marxist, Maxwell Frost. (Both of the aforementioned elementary schools are comfortably within this boundary as well.)

As you read though, the district identified five “sustainability targets” as major priorities, which include “Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy”:

Main objectives include: decrease energy use intensity, decrease carbon emissions, increase use of renewable energy, increase energy conservation and renewable energy awareness, and increase sustainable building design construction rating.

Do the A/C units have some sort of governor on them? The last time I visited California (2021) I stayed in San Diego, and by rule of some type of local ordinance due to some type of “climate crisis,” I was not able to lower the temperature below somewhere in the mid-70s—despite it being unbearably warm. Is that what is meant by “energy conservation”? Probably.

Are these units “energy efficient” appliances, which really just means they’re inefficient? (If you have a new washer and dryer, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.) I’m thinking yes.

Is the district sourcing “renewable” energy from unreliable sources that can’t support the demands of the grid? It appears so, as the district is abandoning the coal that keeps everything running, in favor of “clean” energy options.

Oddly, the district doesn’t offer specifics on how these “sustainability” policies are actually implemented, so we are left to speculate and draw logical conclusions; “strategically ambiguous” as the progressive Democrats like to say!

“Sustainability” can be deadly.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.