by Laura Glesby
Chief of School Operations Paul Whyte goes through the school buildings in need of A/C fixes at Monday’s hearing. Credit: Laura Glesby Photo
Several schools will lack proper air conditioning by the start of the school year on Monday, meaning some students may have to be moved to temporary classrooms, as temperatures for the first week are projected to reach the mid-80s.
Chief of School Operations Paul Whyte disclosed the information Wednesday at a Board of Alders Education Committee meeting at City Hall.
The meeting centered around readiness for the upcoming school year. Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller asked Whyte for a rundown of schools without air conditioning.
Whyte reported that Truman School students will continue to learn without air conditioning, noting that the system “has been down for multiple years.”
NHPS has “secured a design” to completely replace both the HVAC system and the building’s roof. By the end of construction, the school building will be “in a much better place,” Whyte said.
So Truman’s A/C will be fixed “sometime this year, but not by the time the kids are back?” pressed Miller.
Whyte agreed with the assessment.
“So if it’s very hot, would you close the school?” Miller asked.
Whyte said that the school district is exploring options to relocate students in overly hot conditions — including possibly utilizing the Hillhouse Field House.
If an entire building is impacted, said Whyte, the school might “do a morning session, before it gets to the really hot part of the day.”
NHPS called for an early dismissal across the district twice in the last school year due to concerns about the heat in school buildings.
Whyte noted that a few schools’ air conditioning systems are close to being fixed.
At Edgewood School, “everything should be tied in by Friday,” he said, noting that “this was a completely new system.”
At Co-Op, he said, “it’s not that we don’t have” air conditioning — but the system has needed repeated resetting. “So we have technicians returning there,” said Whyte.
“Do you think we’ll have it on Monday, or we don’t know?” asked Miller.
“I believe we will,” Whyte said.
At Lincoln-Bassett, the district has made progress on fixing the air conditioning. “The entire system may not be in,” Whyte said, “but parts of the building will be cooling.”
Same with Bishop Woods. “We have some classrooms that don’t have full cooling” in that building, Whyte said. “We’re still working on that. But we believe that we get ambient cooling” in those classrooms due to their proximity to other rooms with working air conditioning.
Whyte said that one of the five Sound School buildings does not have air conditioning, and that in “one or two places” there may be a classroom without functioning A/C.
Meanwhile, Wilbur Cross, John C. Daniels, and Betsy Ross are regulating temperatures with the help of portable cooling devices due to malfunctioning air-conditioning systems.
Miller asked Whyte about the cost of those coolers. “I understand that there needs to be 24-7 security,” she said.
“Yes, it becomes very expensive,” said Whyte.
He said that the cost of the systems themselves have ranged from $89,000 to $140,000.
“And yes, there’s an associated cost because we have to provide 24-7 security coverage,” he said.
At one point, he said, the district “tried to scale back” on that security — but at Betsy Ross, someone was able to cut out the copper from the portable unit. The district had to pay to replace the unit.
Now, Whyte said, the school district pays staff security guards time and a half to guard the portable units overnight.
Education Committee Alders Sarah Miller, Mildred Melendez, Frank Redente, and Gary Hogan at Monday night’s hearing.