OCOEE, Fla. — Students at Ocoee High School claim several of their classrooms have not had working air conditioning for days.
The school district said as of Thursday the issue had been fixed, but not before hundreds of comments flooded social media complaining about the lack of AC.
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Parents like Chris Adkins took to social media sharing stories of sick students or kids who were unable to concentrate in class due to extreme heat in their building.
“I was under the impression we received a bunch of funding, Orange County itself did, for air conditioning and filtration because of COVID and this is the second year in a row our high school here has had the same issues. So I guess we just would like to see people a little more proactive during the summer, especially with maintenance and stuff,” Adkins said.
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The school’s principal sent a message to families Wednesday saying the school was working on the issue, but parents said that message came a few days too late. Some said they even had to pull their kids out this week after they got sick from the heat.
Marilyn Martez said the days without AC were devastating for her granddaughter.
“It’s really too hot,” she said.
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She said all her granddaughter would do when she got home was take a shower and go to bed, skipping dinner because she was so exhausted from the heat.
“I don’t think it’s right, they shouldn’t be going to school if there’s no air conditioning,” Martez said.
A spokesperson with Orange County Public Schools said Ocoee High first started experiencing isolated issues with the AC last week. At no time was the entire campus without air, the district said. The district didn’t specify exactly when the problem began, but did say it was resolved Thursday.
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Channel 9 also heard from parents at Sunridge Middle and Lake Whitney Elementary schools, who said their schools had no air conditioning.
The district said Lake Whitney has been repaired and Sunridge is still dealing with a chiller issue. The district said it works with vendors to get repairs done quickly and prioritizes based on how widespread the issue is.
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