Repairs are still underway at campuses across the San Antonio Independent School District on Monday days after systems failures triggered by a hard freeze forced closures last week.
Two schools remained closed due to power outages, however, after torrential rain Sunday night, although those closures were unrelated to the earlier closures, according to a letter to parents.
“This morning, we were in the position to open all of our campuses,” Superintendent Jaime Aquino said in the letter. “Unfortunately, two campuses were affected by a transformer issue resulting from this morning’s storms. CPS first had to address the transformer before power could be restored, so these campuses will open tomorrow.”
HVAC technicians and custodians arrived at 3 a.m., according to district officials, to ensure classes were safe for students after widespread heating and plumbing failures last week and torrential rain overnight.
An assessment Sunday night found that only 10% of campuses were in “the green zone” of being fully operational, according to SAISD Chief of Staff Toni Thompson, who has stepped in to support operations after the resignations last week of two top administrators.
But that assessment was only a snapshot in time, with workers making more progress throughout the day Monday, according to a district spokeswoman.
Thompson said the green zone means “they were functional, may have needed to make some adjustments for some classrooms, but by and large, they were okay.”
As of Sunday night, another 50% of classrooms were in some stage of readiness (the yellow zone), she said, but with repairs still needed, the district deployed 1,100 portable climate-controlled units to ensure temperates were comfortable.
According to Aquino, comfort means between 68 and 72 degrees during the winter.
Last week, temperatures were reportedly around 50 degrees in some classrooms as the district scrambled to close schools, starting with a list of 20 closures Tuesday night that grew to 31 by the end of the day Wednesday after boiler problems that occurred when systems were not manually overridden to operate overnight in the subfreezing temperatures.
As of Sunday night, 27% of campuses were in the red zone, with boiler issues. However, officials said that number was expected to go down Monday, Thompson said.
“We know we still have some work to do, especially in the yellow schools,” she said. “The red schools are being taken care of and addressed, but we know we still have some work to do in the yellow schools for long term fixes.”
Human error played a role in the recent failures, Aquino said, but an unsustainable funding model has also contributed to the current situation.
“Last year, I did increase the budget allocation to enhance building maintenance,” he said. “More could have been allocated, except for the financial constraints our district and all districts in the state of Texas face.”
“I hope this situation serves as a wake-up call to our state, local, and national leaders to recognize and help us act upon a universal lack of funding for education,” he added.
How much the repairs and portable units will cost is still being calculated, along with how students will make up missed days, according to officials.
According to reports from last week, the Edgewood Independent School District closed one school due to burst pipes during the same period.
Attendance was up to 85% at SAISD on Monday, a 15% increase from the last day of school held on Wednesday, although many students left early on that day.
Correction: This story has been updated to accurately state Monday’s SAISD attendance.
