More AC breakdowns in Wake County: Four schools sending students home early
Holly Springs High, Green Hope Elementary, Hortons Creek Elementary and Rogers Lane Elementary became the latest Wake County schools on Friday to send home students early because of problems with the air conditioning system.
In a message posted on the school’s website, Holly Springs High said it was dismissing students early at 11:15 a.m. due to having no air conditioning.
Rogers Lane Elementary in Raleigh said it was sending students home at 11:30 a.m. Green Hope Elementary in Cary said it would dismiss at noon, and Hortons Creek Elementary in Cary will do so at 12:45 p.m.
At least eight Wake County schools have had to dismiss students early due to HVAC issues since traditional-calendar schools opened Tuesday.
Sanderson High School and Wakefield Middle School, both in Raleigh, closed early on Wednesday. Wakefield High School in Raleigh and Willow Spring High School in Fuquay-Varina closed early on Thursday.
Wake’s “Kobayashi Maru’ scenario
This week, school administrators said that Wake has $140 million in HVAC needs but not enough staff to address all of the problems. Half of the HVAC technician positions and both of the chiller technician positions are vacant.
Wake has experienced AC issues the start of the past few school years during hot temperatures.
In North Carolina, the state is responsible for providing most of the money to operate public schools. Counties help supplement the state funding but are primarily charged with paying for construction and maintenance of schools.
Superintendent Robert Taylor compared the HVAC situation to the Kobayashi Maru test from “Star Trek” in which cadets face a no-win scenario to test their character.
“This is what I call the Kobayashi Maru — the no-win scenario — that from a local perspective the Commissioners provide us that funding, but we have had to make the choice of do we pay people so we have teachers in place or we deal with these kinds of issues?” Taylor told school board members.
