57 CPS schools to get air conditioning

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Rahm Emanuel says students at 57 Chicago public schools will be able to focus on their teacher and not the temperature, now that air conditioning has been installed in those buildings.

City officials said the work came in under budget, so air conditioning will be installed in an additional 29 schools. That work should be complete by October.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett said in the past, schools have had to cancel classes because of the heat.

"We can't afford to lose this instructional time, not one moment of it. And when we lose that time during the summer months or any of the warm time, it's unfair and unequitable," Byrd-Bennett said.

The city has said it will provide air conditioning to all classrooms. Officials say it's been installed at 154 schools over the past two years.