SAN ANTONIO - With temperatures rising and the school year almost over, the San Antonio Independent School District is feeling the heat as schools in the district are dealing with air conditioning outages.
It's not how students were hoping to end the year, especially just a few months after system-wide heating failures forced the district to shut down all its schools during a mid-January cold snap.
"Please rest assured that during these last few days of the school year we are doing all that we can to make sure that our heating, air conditioning, and ventilation (HVAC) are working as they should, and that all students have a suitable place to learn," Superintendent Jaime Aquino wrote in a letter to parents and staff on Thursday. "Every school is being proactive and has contingency plans to move students to cooler spaces, should it be affected by HVAC issues. Our principals will keep you informed when they have to put those plans into action."
We heard from parents at Highland Hills Elementary, Barkley-Ruiz Elementary and Young Women's Leadership Academy. All said the A/C went out this week.
"They told us that the A/C was not working, but they're working on it," said Jose San Miguel Gomez, whose daughter attends Young Women’s Leadership Academy. "I know my daughter, she texted me earlier saying that it was hot."
"We understand that the A/C's being worked on, that it will be addressed," said Tricia Bronder, whose daughter also attends Young Women's Leadership Academy. "And yes, my daughter has said that it's hot."
Transparency has been the mantra from SAISD as they work through these ongoing HVAC failures.
"We are committed to openness, and we want every family to be aware of what we are doing as we work to resolve our HVAC challenges," Aquino continued in his letter to parents. "If your child's school has experienced some minor issues, affecting small areas of its facilities, the principal will keep the comfort of your child in mind by continuing instruction in spaces that are cooler."
Just last week, the district's board of trustees released its final after-action report on January's HVAC crisis, finding the district did not adequately prepare for the hard freeze.
"We believe the failure was a systemic shared responsibility, and it continues to be a collective burden," said Trustee Leticia Ozuna, who headed up the committee that put together the report. "We also acknowledge that the HVAC problem is the result of multiple layers of human error occurring over the last 20 years, and we are committed to correct this."
The committee pointed to what it considers a pair of underlying causes: the underfunding of Texas public schools and the large number of aging buildings the district operates.
"In fact, 77 of our buildings were built before air conditioning was standard in public facilities and had to be retrofitted," Ozuna continued, adding that their plan to close 15 of these schools could help. "The board's rightsizing decision in November 2023 will partially mitigate this problem in the future."
Aquino wants parents to know that the district is seeing incremental improvements. "Since January, we have contracted with industry vendors who, along with our own operations staff, have worked diligently to bring our HVAC systems back online," he wrote. "We assure you that bond money is being used to address our HVAC issues."
But a lasting fix is going to take more time and money.
"A complete update of our facilities to industry standards will cost $353.065 million, with $250 million needed for HVAC improvements," Aquino wrote. "Due to funding limitations, full solutions may not occur as quickly as we would like."
The board said it does plan to dedicate more bond money toward achieving those long-term solutions moving forward.
"The board of trustees shall require that 5% of any future bond be dedicated to investing in deferred maintenance on its school facilities until such time as there is no longer any deferred maintenance on its school facilities," said Ozuna describing one of the recommendations from the after-action report.
As for current efforts, Aquino said most bond-funded schools "have had, or will have, HVAC work completed during this bond program." However, obstacles remain. "Post-pandemic supply delays have significantly impacted materials and equipment," he explained. "For example, we ordered new chillers over a year ago, and they are expected to arrive this summer."
He added that Mother Nature has complicated repair efforts in other ways, too. "Recent catastrophic weather in Houston has disrupted the supply chain and limited the availability of HVAC vendors, causing delays in receiving parts and completing work."
#FoxSA #SAISD #SanAntonio #Schools #NoAC
Негізгі бет San Antonio Students Deal With A/C Outages
Пікірлер