KPRC: More Houston ISD schools popping up with A/C failures amid 100-degree temps, excessive heat warnings

Bill Spencer, Investigative Reporter, Published: August 21, 2024 at 7:22 AM

HOUSTON – Outside Margaret Long Wisdom High School on a sweltering day in Houston, the outside mural says “where the world comes to learn”, but maybe it should be “where the world comes to sweat.”

One student, a senior, Niera Cifuentes tells KPRC 2 it has been absolutely miserable inside her classroom since the first day of school.

“It is hot and we don’t really have air conditioning or anything,” Niera said. “So, when people get into class, people are typically like sweating and it’s, it’s humid and we don’t have a lot of AC in there.”

When we ask her if that makes concentrating on her schoolwork difficult, Niera is quick to answer.

“It does, it makes me like sometimes, I really get anxious because when I’m feeling too hot and I don’t, I’m just not able to concentrate whenever I’m doing my work,” Niera said.

Just how many classrooms are there without A/C at Wisdom High?

One teacher here asking to be anonymous wrote to KPRC 2 saying that 10 classrooms have no air conditioning and she says last Friday, two teachers actually passed out from heat exhaustion. However, KPRC 2 has not been able to confirm that claim through officials with Houston Independent School District (HISD).

At DeChaumes Elementary more A/C problems; one parent wrote to us that at least a couple of children have gone home dehydrated and sick.

Justino Vasquez has two young daughters that go here and they tell him the A/C in their classroom has not been working from day one.

”She’s saying it’s very hot in the classroom and there is just one fan at the front of the classroom and the kids in the back of the classroom are sweating,” Vasquez said.

Justino questions how can this be happening in the 7th largest school district in the entire country.

”I don’t think it’s acceptable that HISD can’t handle this in a city like Houston. They need to get the AC running you know,” Vasquez said.

Broken A/C problems are also being reported by parents and students at Harvard Elementary School.

This brings us back to Wisdom High senior Niera, who just wants some relief from the heat.

”Well, I just really hope they find somebody to fix this. No one wants to come to the school knowing that the weather is really hot and for us to be inside and not be able to focus,” Niera said.

KPRC 2 has sent requests for answers to several questions about the A/C problems to HISD with no response as of Tuesday night. We are asking how many HISD schools in total have A/C issues, which schools specifically are affected and what is the district doing to solve the problems.