Published
3 years agoon
Air conditioning continues to be a hot-button issue for Fresno Unified School District, which has grappled with about 800 requests for service since the start of the school year Aug. 19.
For those classrooms and other spaces without operating air conditioning, the first 13 days were sweltering. The National Weather Service recorded triple-digit temperatures in Fresno on seven of those days, and an average daily high temperature of 99 degrees since school started.
The hottest day was Aug. 27, when the mercury climbed to 105 degrees.
Karin Temple, chief operating officer for facilities management and planning for Fresno Unified, said in an email to GV Wire that all air conditioning systems and units are turned on two weeks before the start of the school year to make sure they are operating properly, and repaired if they are not.
“Some issues are not known until classrooms are fully occupied with students and teachers,” she said. “In other cases, unexpected mechanical failures occur due to normal wear and tear.”
(GV Wire/Alexis DeSha)
As of Thursday, 600 of the requests for service had been completed, Temple said. They ranged from a warm or nonfunctioning AC unit to a central plant or system failure, she said.
Trustee Terry Slatic
The district’s technicians perform work year-round to maintain air conditioning and heating systems, including working on projects to repair and replace aging equipment, Temple said.
At a special meeting in January to set priorities for using Measure X funds, trustee Carol Mills said that providing air conditioning districtwide was an equity issue. Measure X, a $225 million bond for school improvements, was passed by voters in 2016.
Measure X funds are being used to replace or upgrade HVAC equipment, Temple said. The district has designated $10 million annually from Measure X for deferred maintenance projects, including air conditioning, she said.
Slatic vowed at the January meeting to turn off the air conditioning in his own home until the issue was resolved. He said Friday that he’s made good on his vow, at least during the daytime. He acknowledged that at night he turns on the AC because he figures students are home by then and not subject to the district’s cooling systems.
At Wednesday’s board meeting, Mills brought up the topic of school buses that lack air conditioning. She said that, given the many years that buses remain in service, the district could consider adding AC to those that have been manufactured over the past 15 years and that are expected to remain in service for some time.
Related Story: Students Hot and Parent Bothered Over Lack of AC on FUSD Buses
Temple told GV Wire on Thursday that 12 of the district’s 59 buses that lack air conditioning are 15 years or older. Buses are replaced either when they wear out or do not meet state requirements, or when grant money is available for replacements, she said.Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email
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