Students certainly can expect the beginning of a new school year will take some adjustment. But one change that Durant High School students probably weren’t expecting was to spend almost seven hours a day with no air conditioning, for the first three days of school.
“It was really hot,” said junior Jasmin Contreras. “We couldn’t even concentrate.”
The problem began before classes were in session. The compressor for the outdoor air conditioning unit by the school’s 600 hallway had gone out. The unit was repaired but then got struck by lightning. The second repair was not complete before school started.
Teachers with classrooms in the 600 hallway were allowed to move their students to another part of the building that had air.
But within a day, the air conditioning had broken throughout the entire school. The fire alarm has a mechanism that shuts down the air conditioning when the alarm sounds. This mechanism had malfunctioned, causing the air to stop, even though the alarm was not sounding.
“For me, that’s the last place I’m going to look when we’re having A/C problems,” said Todd Long, assistant principal for administration.
County employees came to fix the problem immediately, but it took them longer than expected to determine the cause.
The air conditioning was repaired and running again school-wide Friday, Aug. 22.
Kara Hoffman, a junior at Durant, said there were numerous issues during the days without air other than just the heat.
“It was so hot, the floors were sweating, and someone almost slipped,” she said.
Hoffman also was upset that the bell schedule did not allow all students enough time to go to the restroom between classes, so some of them had not been drinking enough water.
The Hillsborough County Public Schools dress code prohibits clothing that exposes the entire shoulder, such as spaghetti straps. Boys’ shirts must have sleeves. Hemlines must be no shorter than the fingertips when hands are resting at a student’s side. The dress code was enforced as normal during the first week of school.
Long said the air conditioning problem was not something the staff could have foreseen. The fire alarm is inspected on a regular basis.
Contact Catherine Sinclair at csinclair@plantcityobserver.com.