As the parent of a child who at one time sweltered in a second-floor classroom at Harvard Elementary School during warm-weather months, I followed the discussion of the ceiling fans quite closely at Annual Town Meeting. It was my understanding that the town Board of Health did indeed previously weigh in on this issue. Thus I was surprised when Tom Philippou, chaiman of that committee, stood and vociferously denied School Superintendent Tom Jefferson’s assertion that the installation of fans had been directed by the Board of Health. In fact, Mr. Philippou wrote a Board of Health memo on Oct. 4, 2007 that directed Mr. Jefferson as follows:
“The Board feels that education suffers when classroom temperature is high and feels that fans should be required in each space when the temperature is excessive….We have included a copy of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health ‘Methods for Increasing Comfort in Non-Air-Conditioned Schools’ to help this process.” (A copy of the memo can be found at www.SOSHarvard.org.)
Reading Mr. Philippou’s Board of Health memo reassured me that my memory had been correct. Unless there is some explanation for these opposing facts that is not clear to me, I’m left to wonder why Mr. Philippou would deny the existence of a memo he wrote six months ago and, in so doing, call into question the truthfulness of the superintendent.
Maria Kaufmann
South Shaker Road
