You’re Hot Then You’re Cold: Students’ Takes on Stuyvesant’s Indoor Temperatures

As you pass through the set of heavy glass doors separating the outside world from Stuyvesant’s enclosed ecosystem, what do you feel? Is it instant relief from no longer being subjected to the sun’s scorching rays? A long-awaited warmth to counteract the increasingly chilly weather? Does that feeling last, or does each escalator ride seem to take you into a different climate?

Most students have noticed the varying temperatures inside the school, noting that particular floors or classrooms feel like the temperature is extreme. For certain locations, there is a consensus among students: the fifth-floor gym locker room is hot, and the first floor is cold. “The seventh floor is unbearably hot at times, and it’s quite irritating when you have to climb multiple floors to get to your classes and then are hit with a heatwave,” junior Jiya Patel added. Though this phenomenon, during which warm air rises and cooler air sinks, is common; the distinct temperatures are an inconvenience to students. 

Some students even had creative metaphors to describe the school environment. Junior Bihan Liu remarked, “It’s like the desert in one room, a savannah or tropical rainforest in another, and the Arctic in a different room.” 

In order to adapt to the varying temperatures, students have to adjust their outfits throughout the day. “I just bring a cardigan every day,” sophomore Si Xuan said. “I usually have three sets of outfits in my locker.” 

However, having an extra layer still isn’t a perfect solution. “Sometimes I’m kind of annoyed because I’ll be wearing a hoodie, and it’s just uncomfortable to take it off and put it back on all the time,” junior Ella Chen said. Furthermore, students who choose to carry their layers are more likely to lose them. These sweaters and jackets are often either stolen or left to pile up in the lost-and-found bins—a frustrating consequence.

These temperature differences may even affect students academically. “Sometimes my hands get cold, and then it gets annoying and stiff to write,” said freshman Lamim Tonoy. Having to endure an unnecessarily cold or humid room while learning or taking a test can be a challenge, as it stiffens fingers, disrupts focus, and shifts students’ thoughts elsewhere. A ScienceDirect paper analyzing the test scores of students and the corresponding temperatures over time concluded that hot temperatures—specifically maximum daily temperatures between 82.4°F and 86°F—negatively affect cognitive development and correlate with lower test scores. Similarly, an International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health article concluded that exposure to cold temperatures compromises cognitive performance—attention span, memory, and processing ability. This suggests that classroom temperatures not only weaken student learning but also induce attention loss. In particular, warmer temperatures cause students to fall asleep.

There is currently a state law mandating that classroom temperatures not fall below a minimum of 65ºF. In 2023, the New York State Assembly proposed a bill to address the lack of a maximum temperature for schools. The bill was passed by the Chamber of Commerce and the New York State Senate in June 2024, and it was then sent to Governor Kathy Hochul for her signature. The bill aims to establish a maximum temperature in school buildings and introduce heat-relief strategies such as water breaks and, in the worst-case scenario, emergency evacuation to ensure the safety of students and faculty on “extreme heat condition days”—days when an occupied area reaches 82°F or higher. This may also be an attempt to address climate change and the impact of heat on students, especially in the summer.

So, are students dissatisfied with the heating system? Most say yes. Sophomore Joshua Kim said, “I’m not sure what the root issue is, but if we can, [we should] put more money towards [the] heating [systems].” In general, students wish for more uniformity throughout the building. 

Those who were interviewed unanimously agreed that the ideal indoor temperature is around 70°F, although the exact temperature differs by person. “Ideally, I think mid-70s [is a good temperature],” Chen said.

Junior Julia Cho prefers a slightly lower temperature, saying, “67 to early 70s.” Similarly, Kim and Tonoy agreed on a room temperature of 68°F to 72°F. The variability in these answers hints at the challenges of creating a standardized system; it will be difficult to reach a perfect indoor temperature that everyone agrees with.

Furthermore, funding presents a major challenge, and these changes may not even be viable given time and resource constraints. The school’s funding from both the Department of Education and the Parents’ Association is already allocated to various divisions, from staff salaries to club funding. The recurring issues with the school’s inadequate heating system are just one of many issues with the building’s facilities. 

However, there are simpler methods to counter the issue of temperature variances. Cho suggested, “[The school] should monitor each floor and see if they need to open windows or close them.”  

There is no perfect solution for something we do not have direct control over. The best that students can do is bring additional layers and request ventilation adjustments from teachers. Until the school can implement alternative measures, the inconsistent temperatures throughout the building will likely continue. As the school year goes on, students will need to learn to adapt to Stuyvesant’s myriad of habitats.