Just days before the end of the school year, the San Antonio Independent School District canceled classes at two campuses as HVAC systems faltered and temperatures soared into the high 90s over the holiday weekend.
Christopher Herrera, the director of Bonham Academy, apologized for the late notice in a letter that was sent to parents Monday and provided to the San Antonio Report.
Classes are scheduled to resume on Wednesday.
“Our air conditioning system is not functioning, and we are installing a new chiller,” Herrera said in the letter. “However, it will take some time to cool the building, and we have made the decision to cancel classes on Tuesday to allow the building to adequately cool our facilities for the comfort of students and staff.”
Parents at Mark Twain Dual Language Academy were notified Tuesday morning about a closure due to warm classes in a letter from Principal David Garcia.
“We apologize for the warm classrooms this morning,” he said. “We are canceling classes today as we work on the chillers to cool the facilities.”
Transportation was made available for students who use the service according to the letter.
Garcia said he expected the air conditioning to be functioning again by later Tuesday, and classrooms would be cooled by Wednesday.
The closures come a week after Superintendent Jaime Aquino sent a letter to all parents in the district promising “contingency plans to move students to cooler spaces, should [schools] be affected by HVAC issues.”
“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,” he said in the letter, dated May 23.
He also referenced a recent after-action report, which detailed the failures of the district during severe winter weather earlier this year. Solutions from the report are underway, he said, but are slowed down by funding and supply-chain issues.
“Due to funding limitations, full solutions may not occur as quickly as we would like,” he said. “This spring, we are already seeing incremental improvements, along with greater openness and more communication directly from your school as well as from the district when we are experiencing problems.”
Thursday is the last day of school for SAISD students.
