Maintenance and engineering managers in K-12 districts nationwide face the same challenge at the start of every school year: How will aging and underfunded facilities perform when students and teachers return to their classrooms?
For managers in the School District of Philadelphia, the answer came quickly when high temperatures prompted emergency measures the first week of school. Fortunately, funding from an unlikely source kept the problem from becoming worse.
Sixty-three district schools had to close early in late August due to excessive heat, but 10 schools that received air conditioners from Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles foundation will have a full day, according to Sports Illustrated. In April, Hurts’ foundation donated $200,000 for air conditioning units to be installed in Philadelphia area schools. Those units came into play as Philadelphia faced excessive heat and dozens of local schools had to close early.
The district had announced that the schools would have to dismiss three hours early for two days due to the heat, according to ABC6. The schools have inadequate cooling, the district said, and temperatures were expected to be in the 90s on both days. The district had installed about 200 air conditioning units this summer, but some schools still do not have adequate air conditioning.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
