Metro Atlanta's heatwave is being felt inside some DeKalb County School District classrooms.
As of late Monday, district officials report some 100 classrooms in various schools have malfunctioning air conditioning.
“DeKalb County School District personnel are working hard to address all (heating and cooling) issues in the district,” a district spokesperson said in a statement.” The district does not have any facility fully without air conditioning, but we have some schools with some rooms that are without (heating and cooling).”
According to district officials, six classrooms and the gymnasium at Druid Hills High School are without air. Two rooms at Avondale Elementary School are having "minor cooling issues.' Other schools with issues include Arabia Mountain High School, Briar Vista Elementary School, Clarkston High School and DeKalb Early College Academy.
Fewer air conditioning issues were reported at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, but the issues piled up then, too. Parents and teachers complained of leaking roofs, no air and plumbing back-ups.
The district has thousands of active maintenance requests, with issues dating back to 2017, though district officials have said the policy is to clear any maintenance work order within 30 days.
About $100 million has been earmarked for building fixtures through the Education-Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST) to replace heating and cooling, electrical, plumbing and other major systems, the district said. Superintendent Steve Green has said it would take about $2 billion to fix all the district's facilities problems. The district had 23,870 maintenance requests during the 2017-2018 school year.
THE AIR ISN’T THERE
Arabia Mountain High School - 6
Briar Vista Elementary School - 3
Clarkston High School - 7
DeKalb Early College Academy - 10
Laurel Ridge Elementary - 11
Lithonia High School - 6
Redan Middle School - 3
Rockbridge Elementary School - 5
Rowland Elementary School - 4
Shadowrock Elementary School - 5 and cafeteria
Stone Mountain Middle School - 4
Tucker High School - 12 and cafeteria
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