Broken air conditioners left many classrooms sweltering on students’ first day back at New York City public schools.
In interviews with Gothamist and through posts on social media, parents and staff described oppressive heat in some classrooms as outside temperatures hovered in the 90s. The education department does not have a public list of classrooms with broken air conditioners, but complaints were surfacing around the city.
Parent Naomi Pena said when she picked her daughter up from Manhattan’s School For Global Leaders for a doctor’s appointment, the middle schooler “looked like she had been doing friggin' yoga.”
According to her daughter, air conditioning wasn’t working in some classrooms. “There’s no reason it should be like this,” Pena said.
While other schools in the Midwest and Northeast have had early dismissals and temporary closures because of soaring temperatures, Chancellor David Banks said the city was prepared to manage the heat.
“It’s going to be hot for a couple days,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “We will get through it.”
Last year, city officials announced they had reached the goal of installing functioning air conditioning in all public school classrooms. But those systems sometimes break down.
On Thursday, education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said facilities staff were working with custodians to address any air conditioning problems.
But some parents and school staff described long-standing complaints about busted equipment.
“We have old buildings and we have window units that break very easily,” said parent Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, who serves on the oversight body called the Panel for Educational Policy.
Meanwhile, large shared spaces like gymnasiums and cafeterias are often not air-conditioned and instead use fans. “We need to work with ventilation in a more holistic way,” she said.
A list of broken air conditioners compiled by teachers over the last 24 hours obtained by Gothamist had 50 entries by midday on Thursday. In some cases, only one or two rooms were without air conditioning, while in other buildings whole floors or even buildings were out.
“People are roasting,” she said.
Salas-Ramirez said she escalated a few problems to city officials last night, and repairs were made promptly. “Little things were handled overnight, but I can’t say that across the board,” she said.
Aaron Sildo, a teacher at P.S. 28 The Wright Brothers School in Washington Heights, said at least four or five rooms did not have air conditioning on Thursday.
“We have many rooms in which air conditioners have been broken for many months, if not years. Students are asked to learn in these classrooms and teachers to teach,” he said. “This week I saw one of our teachers having to set up her new room she had to move to, without air conditioning and she is eight months pregnant. This doesn’t seem OK to me at this point in time and with the amount of money New York City has.”
A principal in the Bronx said he had to combine classes because the air conditioning wasn’t working in some areas.
“It’s frustrating that the DOE is unable to meet the basic needs of our students and staff,” said the principal, who did not want to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the press. He said the education department delivered portable air conditioning units earlier this summer after he flagged the problem, but each unit blew a fuse when plugged in, causing power to go out.
“The heat is not going away. COVID and RSV are not going away. And still we don’t have adequate ventilation,” the principal said.
