Seven Wake County schools with no heat dismiss early Tuesday

Seven Wake County public schools are dismissing early on Tuesday due to a lack of heat in the buildings.

“[My daughter] said the teacher had said it was 50 degrees [inside] and it was very cold,” said parent Yolanda Perez, who daughter attends Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary School.

The following schools dismissed early:

• Green Magnet Elementary School
• Brooks Elementary School
• Middle Creek Elementary School
• Wake STEM Early College
• Lake Myra Elementary School
• Dillard Drive Magnet Elementary School
• Carpenter Elementary School (11:45 a.m.)

“We had all hands on deck, not only internal staff, but the contracted staff as well. Everyone was out today trying to get things fixed,” said Mark Strickland, the chief director of facilities and operations.

All of the schools dismissed students at 10:45 a.m., unless otherwise noted.

“It makes me feel like I'm not doing enough for them, but it's like out of my hands. So it hurts me for them. I feel bad they have to deal with this,” Perez said.

She said her family has dealt with the HVAC issues issues more times than she can count.

“My oldest, she's in seventh grade. She went to other another elementary school, and we dealt with heating and air issues throughout since pre-K,” Perez said. “It's just one of those things where, oh well, deal with it, you know? It shouldn't be that way.”

The district said provided lunch and transportation for students who ride the bus. Parents were able to pick up their students for rides out as usual. Staff will remained on campus with students until they were picked up.

“Some of the things that we do is, we'll check the boilers and make sure they're firing; we'll check belts and control systems...We do all of that ahead of time,” said Strickland. “But again, I think it's important to note that until we get into the cold weather and we're running it 24/7, we really don't know what we'll end up with.”

Wake County board members learned the district is $214.3 million behind on updating heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment during a meeting in September. District officials have blamed many of its HVAC issues on understaffing, funding gaps and old equipment.

“I think we have to prioritize what it is that is important to us...We may have to let some other things go by the wayside. We may not be able to provide mulch, or we may have to cut back on landscaping services, or something like that,” Strickland said.

All after school activities are canceled, the district said on its website.

Please contact your school's front office if you have any questions or concerns.

Strickland said his team is also turning up the heat overnight.

“We're going to bump that up a little bit and let them run a little bit longer, just to make sure we can maintain some more heat in the buildings, so that if we do have a problem in the morning, we're not starting off with it being so cold,” he said.

All seven schools are expected to operate on normal schedule Wednesday.