Extreme heat forces 32 Denver Public Schools to end class early

The extreme heat is forcing 32 Denver Schools to end classes early and four to not open at all over the next four days.  

Denver Public School's (DPS) decision to make these changes comes as a September heat wave is making it tough to keep buildings without air conditioning cool. Several of those buildings were supposed to have air conditioning installed by now, but the projects are delayed.  

"To conduct an early release, that's our last resort," Trena Marsal, executive director of facilities management for DPS. "We do see it as a learning disruption, unfortunately."  

According to Marsal, heat mitigation crews work every day to monitor temperatures at each school and provide cooling devices such as fans, as well as open windows at night to purge warm air. While the cooling tactics provide a minor fix, a big one is in the works. 

It all comes back to a $795 million bond passed by voters in 2020. Of that, $128.5 million was earmarked for installing air conditioning in 24 of the 55 schools without it.  

The process of narrowing down the prioritized schools involved creating a composite ranking system consisting of temperature, building utilization and an equity index.  

"We could not air condition all 55 schools, so we wanted to make sure that we had a fair and equitable process to, how do we prioritize throughout those 55 buildings," Marsal said.  

The installation of air conditioning at the prioritized schools was scheduled to be a three-year process.  

The district successfully installed systems within six buildings in 2021, but eight out of the nine scheduled for 2022 are delayed. An A/C system was successfully installed at Hallett Academy before the school year began.  

"Due to supply chain issues, we were delayed on some of those," Marsal said. "They are in process, but not all buildings came online prior to school start."  

As the heat summer heat sticks around, the delays couldn't come at a worse time. Installation at the eight schools is expected to be finished this fall, and the remaining nine are on schedule to be done summer of 2023. 

"We want to ensure that all of our students are comfortable in our buildings, and they have the proper environment for learning," Marsal said. "It's a frustration in that we want to make sure these buildings are prepped, and they're ready to keep them in school."  

While 24 schools will eventually get A/C, 31 will remain without it moving forward. How the district goes about changing that remains to be seen. 

"We will have to find another funding source to be able to air condition those facilities," Marsal said.  

According to Marsal, the district is currently conducting a capital assessment for all building needs.  

Back in 2019, the district estimated it could take at least $262 million to air condition the classrooms in each of the 55 buildings without A/C.