After hearing about a variety of problems cold classrooms cause for students, sophomore Student Council member Dani Orloff created a petition to make the school warmer.

“I came up with the idea for the petition because I had been hearing many complaints about the cold temperatures from my peers who have said they are frozen during class and the cold is affecting their focus during class,” Orloff said.

According to Orloff, many students have been wearing winter coats or blankets during class — both of which are against the rules according to the student handbook, in order to stay warm.

“I’ve also noticed that a lot more students have been wearing their jackets during school hours because of the cold temperatures and additionally they’ve been bringing more blankets to school,” Orloff said.

Junior Jade LaBelle said she thinks the petition serves a worthy purpose.

“I feel like the temperature is kind of cold, as if the heaters aren’t quite working,“ LaBelle said. “(The petition) sounds very good to me because our school needs to be heated in all classrooms.”

LaBelle said the inconsistency of temperature from classroom to classroom causes her to carry her coat around during the school day.

“I would like to have all the rooms (be) the same (temperature) so I don’t have to carry (my coat) around when I’m not wearing it,” LaBelle said.

Student Council adviser Sarah Lindenberg said Orloff distributed petitions to other Council members to gather signatures.

“Student Council members are carrying around a copy of the statement and asking students in their classes to sign it,” Lindenberg said. “I do not think they put together a number (of signatures), just as many as they can get.”

In a study by Healthy Schools, students given a test in a classroom at 72 degrees, the ideal classroom temperature, tested at 90 percent on average, while students given the same test in a classroom at 61 degrees tested at 76 percent on average.

Orloff said she believes the cold classroom temperatures affect students’ academic performances.

“Whenever I ask students ‘how do you feel about the temperatures right now?’ they all agree that it is really cold and that it is affecting their focus and their success academically in school,” Orloff said.

LaBelle said wearing more layers because of the cold affects her focus sometimes.

“Since I usually wear my coat or carry around a blanket I feel kind of sleepy so I sometimes lose focus,” LaBelle said.

Orloff said she hopes the administration recognizes the issue and works to make the school warmer.

“We’re just trying to get a message to the administration that this is affecting a large amount of students and it’s not just a trivial complaint, it’s a real health issue that should be addressed,” Orloff said.