Broken Heating System Keeping Gary School Closed
GARY, Ind. (CBS) -- School may have been back in session in Chicago Wednesday after the cold, but not at one Gary, Indiana school.
Classes remained cancelled at Roosevelt College and Career Academy because of an ongoing battle to get the school's heating system to work.
Workers are scrambling to get heat pumping again at Theodore Roosevelt College and Career Academy.
A thermometer on the wall of one classroom says it is about 45 degrees inside, which is the reason it sits empty.
"It is definitely not ideal. We want them to focus on the learning that is occurring in the classroom and it's difficult to do that when your bones jumping from cold temperatures," said Principal Donna Henry.
"Earlier today most of our rooms were in the 40 and 50 degree marks. That is not suitable," said Roosevelt Achievement & Achievement director Sabrena Davis.
EdisonLearning is the private company that took over the school from the public school system a couple of years ago, but just this month the two sides inked a legal agreement about who's responsible for maintaining the boiler system.
"Right now, we do have access to the building. We received it today," said Gary Schools Superintendent Cheryl Pruitt.
Gary Community Schools Corporation owns the building, and the superintendent explains it's about 85-years-old, hard to heat and hard to fix.
"This building and all the others have been a nightmare through this period of extreme temperatures. We haven't seen temperatures like this in over 20 years," said buildings and grounds supervisor Charles Prewitt.