NHPS Spent $43K On Box Fans

by Maya McFadden The New Haven independent

The city’s school district spent $43,000 on an emergency contract to purchase 650 box fans — which arrived a week and a half before the end of the school year. 

That contract came before the Board of Education Monday, not for approval but just as a notification, as the total expense was less than $50,000.

The contract was dated June 9 and totaled $43,231.50. It states that the box-fan purchase was ​“due to numerous complaints about excessive heat in offices and classrooms.”

The contract continued, ​“This purchase will help students and faculty transition from summer to winter in locations without air conditioning.”

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent that the box fans arrived June 6. The box fans were purchased from Grainger.

At a May Board of Education meeting, Co-op teacher Theresa Purdie testified about the downtown arts high school’s lack of air conditioning and increasingly high temperatures, reaching into the 80s, as the end of school year approached. She noted at the time that Co-op’s classroom windows could not be opened. Days after Purdie’s testimony, the school’s air conditioning was repaired.

Meanwhile, at John C. Daniels School on Monday, more than six box fans were in use during the Board of Education meeting, as the building’s air conditioning was not working.