HOUSTON – It was only the second week of school, but some students at Anderson Elementary in Houston Independent School District were already feeling the heat — literally. Parents received notifications Monday morning about air conditioning issues at the school, prompting some to pick up their children early.
Jonathan Soto was among the parents who made that call, pulling his fourth-grade daughter, Kyrie, out of class after learning about the problem.
“It is already hot in here, kids being active and running around, and causing more heat, and not knowing what time anything is scheduled to be fixed, I’m just concerned for my daughter’s safety,” Soto said.
Kyrie didn’t hold back when describing what it felt like inside her classroom.
“It was like so hot,” she said. “It was so hot ... like a 1000 percent Celsius.”
Parents notified on HVAC issues
Parents received a notification — or an advisory through Parentsquare— Monday morning that the school was experiencing HVAC issues. However, no advisory appeared on the school’s website.
One Spanish-speaking parent said the A/C problems weren’t entirely new to her. She recalled a similar issue happening the previous year, though it was resolved quickly.
For Soto, the pattern is what’s most troubling. His daughter has attended Anderson Elementary since kindergarten, and this isn’t the first time the school has dealt with cooling problems.
“She’s been at this school since kindergarten now, we’ve had this issue in the past before, and once again if this is an issue that’s recurring that means the issue wasn’t fully solved, it was just like a patch,” Soto said.
Safety, communication top parent concerns
When asked about his biggest worry, Soto didn’t hesitate.
“Heat exhaustion for the kids, and them not having full communication how long this is going to be or saying hey lets send kids home for the day, let’s get this issue fixed before they come back,” Soto said.
HISD responds
Houston ISD told KPRC that aging HVAC systems are a known issue throughout the district, and that both short-term and long-term solutions are being implemented. The district also said crews are responding daily to HVAC issues across its campuses.
As of the time of this report, cooling had been restored at Anderson Elementary.