SAN ANTONIO – The heat is out in the San Antonio Independent School District, and now school is, too.
All 98 SAISD schools will be closed Thursday and Friday after widespread heating system failures created school environments too cold to educate students.
SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino said at a news conference Wednesday about 70% of SAISD schools had experienced some degree of heating system failure. Aquino said crews will perform quality control checks, assess the problems and make necessary repairs at the campuses over the next two days.
“As we move forward, we will not open a single school until it is warm, safe and a good place for learning,” he said.
Aquino said he knows there are plenty of frustrated parents with questions about why schools were allowed to remain open on Tuesday despite the cold classrooms.
The superintendent sent a letter to parents apologizing for the situation but reiterated that he takes the blame for allowing schools to proceed.
“I take full responsibility for making the wrong call. Too many of our students and staff across SAISD were in unfavorable conditions today, and that will not continue, and it is unacceptable,” he said. “We have failed our students, our staff, our community by not having accurate, reliable information.”
Aquino said that while some schools are operating efficiently, the majority are not.
He said the district planned to have boilers running at all buildings during the frigid weather. The schools were all checked Monday, but not all the boilers were set properly so they could run around the clock. That resulted in boiler pipes breaking or freezing.
Heating systems at other schools, he said, simply had technical issues.
“We made a human error in terms of not manually overriding the system so that boilers could run 24 hours,” Aquino said. The superintendent added that he’s taking a deep look at infrastructure, causes of the issue and personnel involved.
SAISD’s 2020 bond included funding to upgrade the HVAC systems at 30 campuses. Its website, which was last updated in the fall, shows the work has been completed at nine campuses.
“Some bond funds were used to fix our heating and AC system,” Aquino acknowledged to KSAT. “And we know that some schools operated without any issues. And we also know that in some of them it was just 10 or 20% - so one or two classroom. So I want to be clear that those are also - we experienced some success.”
Aquino also said SAISD has deferred maintenance because the district is severely underfunded by the state.
“No excuse, but it is a reality when our basic allotment has not been increased since 2019. The cost of inflation has increased dramatically,” he said.
He said the reason why more schools were not initially closed on Wednesday was that the heating issues were not uncovered until the morning.
“It was getting colder. The stair, the stairways, the theater room, the band halls outside, and the gym. The gym was the coldest,” said Tafolla Middle School student Richard Cura, who was let out early on Wednesday along with his classmates.
The district announced late Tuesday night that it would be closing 20 campuses on Wednesday. Another 11 schools were added to the closures list throughout Wednesday.
“I’m frustrated because I’m taking time away from work just to come over here and having to leave work 30 minutes, you know. on my lunch break, said Brenda Slocume, a parent.
Many parents KSAT spoke with where happy students and staff would not have to be in cold classrooms, but there were concerns about finding child care.
“We have family that’ll be tending to them and taking care of them,” said Liz Riojas, who has nephews in the district.
“Do you consider your family one of the lucky ones since you will have the means to do that with extra family?” asked KSAT’s John Paul Barajas.
“Definitely, because I know some parents -- they’re single parents and they have to work,” answered Riojas.
Other parents reached out to KSAT through social media and email, questioning if two days would be enough time for the district to make repairs.
“Do you feel confident the district can get all schools functioning by Monday?” asked Barajas.
“No,” answered Riojas.
An SAISD employee, who also has a child in the district, agrees. She asked to remain anonymous but sent KSAT this statement.
“I am happy with the decision to close the schools because of the heater issue. Obviously, as a district employee it causes some problems since we are expected to be on zoom all day tomorrow and Friday, but I would rather my child be comfortable, safe and warm than in a classroom that is freezing. The problem is that this is just not a pause and fix it situation. This problem Is systemic throughout the district. There are too few people who are able to fix these boilers and too many schools for them to get to. Funds have not been properly allocated by the distrust to upkeep these buildings. This problem will not be fixed on Monday morning magically. The district has ignored multiple opportunities to fix the situation correctly and haven’t. This is just a bandaid on a bleeding wound, so unless the district goes back to the drawing board and allocates funds properly, our families will continue to have issues like this. They need to take a good hard look at that central office and all those cushy jobs that they are currently creating and decide what the real priority is in this district. Because right now it’s markedly clear that it’s not the students.”
The district has made adjustments to provide better “on-the-ground, real-time information” to ensure that buildings are fully operational and provide a safe environment for learning, Aquino said.
The superintendent commended principals, teachers and support personnel for their commitment to keeping students warm and said that safety always supersedes instruction.
