CANOGA PARK : PTA Buys School’s 1st Air Conditioners

The Fullbright Avenue School Parent-Teacher Assn. has spent the last year literally counting pennies to raise money for air-conditioning, and now has enough to install its first two air conditioners in the Canoga Park school Monday.

Two classes down, 10 to go.

Like many school groups in the San Fernando Valley, Fullbright parents have resorted to penny drives and bake sales to raise money for expensive air-conditioning systems that L.A. Unified School District can’t afford.

Air-conditioning has became a pressing issue since many schools went to year-round schedules a year ago. Students now start school in August, and at Fullbright, late summer classroom temperatures have reached 103 degrees, said Artis Parker, whose daughter attends the school.

Besides the cost of the air conditioners--about $4,400 apiece including installation--the parents must raise $46,000 to install a new transformer, because the existing electrical system can’t accommodate air conditioners. Then there’s the $32,000 needed for wiring.

The total price tag? PTA president Jan Sandman estimates that it will take more than $100,000 to cool the classrooms. Fullbright serves a largely middle- and low-income area. And at the rate the PTA is raising money, this fund raiser may take, well, maybe 10 years, maybe more, she said. “Geez, I don’t know,” Sandman said. “I guess it will take seven years just to do all the wiring.”

Still, Fullbright Principal Jim Grover said Fullbright parents are “bound and determined” to attain their goal. Parent volunteers have spent hours rolling the spare change students pick up off the playground, and they plan a carnival on the school grounds June 5. Meanwhile, they are celebrating what victories they can: a ribbon-cutting for the two new air conditioners is scheduled for Wednesday.