Every School Has That Classroom
The one that’s always too hot. Or too cold. Or whose lights flicker. Or whose technology works… until students walk through the door.
Mine smelled like death.
Not metaphorically. Literally.
Students would walk in and immediately wrinkle their noses.
“What IS that smell?”
I wish I knew.
When Something Isn’t Right
My students’ eyes watered. I felt nauseated. I reported the stench to the administration again and again, but every response was some version of the same thing:
They’re handling it.
It’s fine.
It’s not as bad as you think.
Except they weren’t handling it. It wasn’t fine. And it turned out to be much worse than I imagined.
There are very few things teachers can control about their classrooms—if they even have one. I spent several years floating from room to room carrying a file box because a cart wouldn’t make it up the stairs. I later taught for nine years in a lecture hall with tables bolted to the floor and no storage. Teachers don’t control the heat or air conditioning, either. When students complain that it’s too hot or too cold, we’re enduring the same thing.
And no, we aren’t allowed to open the windows… even if it stinks.
I joined a new school as it entered only its second year. New buildings have just as many problems as old ones—they’re simply different problems. My first classroom was in the English wing, and everything was fine. I had heard rumors about strange odors in other parts of the building, but they weren’t my problem.
Then I moved to the Fine Arts hallway…
…where I discovered the stench. For the entire year, I tried every air freshener I could find. There were no windows. And even if there had been, I wouldn’t have been allowed to open them.
I even had two dressing rooms with private restrooms, but the smell wasn’t coming from either of them. In fact, it was often worse in the hallway. Some days were worse than others. When the odor was particularly awful, I would take my classes into the auditorium. We would honestly just “bug out.”
“It stinks in here!” That entire year I endured the jokes about the nasty smell in the hallway of my theatre department. I would get a visit from a snarky colleague who would come by and say, “Ah, the aroma of pine with sewage today!” The worst part is that no one seemed to care. Eventually, I asked students to have their parents contact the administration, the school board—someone—because my own requests were going nowhere.
Becoming the Squeaky Wheel
During the following summer, I met an environmental engineer at a social event. I told him about the issue. He gave me homework. I started sending emails regularly requesting assistance—like Andy Dufresne requesting library books.
I started quoting EPA guidance.
Then I copied the superintendent.
Then I politely informed everyone that my next email would include local environmental officials.
Amazing what happens when you mention the EPA in an email.
I finally started getting attention.
The Mystery Solved
After a battery tests, they finally pumped colorful smoke through the ventilation system. Custodians and administrators searched the building until one climbed into the drop ceiling above my classroom.
HUZZAH!
The colorful smoke billowed from a single uncapped pipe.
That was it.
Three years of nauseating fumes. One missing cap.
The pipe was capped, and the smell was gone.
I wish I could tell you someone apologized.
Or admitted I’d been right all along—or held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly capped pipe.
None of that happened.
But the smell disappeared.
And honestly, that was enough.
Teachers Know
Teachers live in their classrooms. We know their quirks, and we handle them… but we also know when something is wrong.
Sometimes advocating for your students means lesson planning.
Sometimes it means staying after school to tutor.
And sometimes it means becoming the most persistent squeaky wheel until someone finally climbs into the ceiling and discovers an uncapped pipe.
Teachers shouldn’t have to quote the EPA to get someone’s attention—but if that’s what it takes to keep students safe, that’s exactly what good teachers will do.
Every school has that classroom.
Every school should also have someone willing to listen to the teacher standing in it.
