37 schools in Denver Public Schools without air conditioning on first day of class
No one is too cool for school on the first day of class for Denver Public Schools. Students and faculty without air conditioning struggled to stay cool in several schools Monday.
The buzzing of fans is what the first day sounds like at 37 Denver schools.
"It makes it really hard for the kids to focus in class for sure. You know, kids are wanting to leave to go stand in the hallway by the big fans, get lots of drinks of water," said Madie Rinehart. She teaches third grade at Traylor Elementary, one of the schools without air conditioning.
"I'd say a big thing we notice on the hotter days is lack of kids here honestly," said Rinehart.
Rinehart has 26 kids in her class, only 21 showed up Monday.
"Especially families that have air conditioning at home, I'm noticing they're keeping their kids at home cause it's definitely more comfortable and also safer," said Rinehart.
Those at school cool down thanks to fans, often purchased by their teacher.
"Our building isn't able to provide them for us so any fans that you see in my classroom came from me or relatives who donated them for me," said Rinehart.
"Our building engineers come in very very early to open up and try to get some of that cooler air into the building. You can see we have large fans that we have running throughout the building to try to keep things cool," said Scott Pribble with Denver Public Schools.
But when temperatures get too hot, students may be sent home early.
"Somewhere around lunchtime, depending on what the building is and what the temperatures are and when it gets hot in that building, just because we know that it's very difficult for our students to learn when it's hot in those rooms," said Pribble.
Some students may miss out on learning because of the heat.
"It's not equitable for our families, it's not safest for kids," said Rinehart.
The district tells CBS Colorado installing AC in all their schools is the goal. But a lack of funding and supply chain issues slow that process down, and the work can only be completed over the summer.
Voters approved a bond in 2020 to install air conditioning across DPS. Today 37 still need AC. Two schools have recently had AC installed, while another five are scheduled to have it installed next summer.
Once the project is over, DPS says there will still be some schools without AC.
