Henrico parents express frustrations after classrooms at seven elementary schools lose heat

For nearly six weeks, the classroom of Rebecca Brown’s son, a fifth-grader at Maybeury Elementary School, has been without heat. 

With the classroom temperature at only 36 degrees, teachers were forced to combine classes and place close to 50 students in one classroom. Then, about a week later, the classroom of Brown’s other fifth-grade son lost heat. Both classrooms have still been without heat since Jan. 5. and Jan. 16, respectively.

“Everybody is freezing and uncomfortable. Kids are sitting on space heaters to try to stay warm,” Brown said. “[Henrico Schools’] annual budget is close to $1 billion, this is just so frustrating for parents.”

Seven HCPS elementary schools reported heat issues this week, with several schools struggling with low temperatures since early January. HCPS facilities teams were able to complete repairs at four schools so far – Echo Lake Elementary, Lakeside Elementary, Skipwith Elementary, and Gayton Elementary (which lost heat building-wide) – but heat issues at Maybeury Elementary, Montrose Elementary, and Ruby F. Carver Elementary remain, according to HCPS spokesperson Eileen Cox.

“This winter’s extreme cold – with 18 days below freezing – and the ongoing impacts of the recent storm created significant strain on the mechanical/heating systems at most schools, particularly at seven schools,” Cox said. “Due to the availability of parts, repairs sometimes take longer than expected, which is understandably frustrating for families and employees alike.”

HCPS has provided space heaters for schools still struggling with cold temperatures, Cox said, and for outdoor school campuses like Maybeury, has relocated students to warmer classrooms. 

'My daughter is miserable – she hates it'

Andrew Capelli’s daughter, who attends Carver Elementary, has been relocated to the school’s gym since early January, along with several other fourth- and fifth-grade classes. Carver has struggled with heat issues in multiple classrooms since this past November, according to parent communications sent by Principal Kristy Budny and obtained by the Citizen.

“My daughter is miserable – she hates it,” Capelli said. “In the gym, one teacher was wearing a heated vest because the temperature was around 55 to 50 degrees.”

Some parents also said that they were frustrated with the lack of communication from HCPS officials on school conditions and the expected timeline of HVAC system repairs. After reaching out to Budny and school board representative Marcie Shea (Tuckahoe District), Capelli received an update from Director of Facilities Susan Moore on Jan. 20, who said that Carver was “in the queue” for an HCPS contractor to repair broken HVAC units, according to emails obtained by the Citizen.

The last update Capelli received from Moore was on Jan. 21, but at least six classrooms at Carver are still without heat, he said.

“Two months where kids have no heat – I mean, that should be kind of an emergency,” Capelli said. “And somebody needs to be held accountable. It just seems to me like someone is dropping the ball countywide. I’m very disappointed with the way the facilities team is responding to me directly.”

Despite schools being closed for 12 days, including weekends, during the past few weeks due to weather, HCPS staffers have continued to check buildings and monitor systems, Cox said. HCPS employees replaced rooftop HVAC units at Carver in early January after encountering issues earlier this winter, but two of those new units subsequently had issues. Those two units have been ordered and will be installed as soon as they arrive, Cox said.

“[HCPS], with the support of contracted companies, continues to actively address all reported heating issues in our building,” she said. “Fortunately, warmer temperatures this week, along with the use of space heaters, are allowing teaching and learning to continue. We appreciate the understanding of our families, students, and teachers as we work through these challenges.”

'It's not fair to the children'

However, some parents say that the space heaters provided by HCPS are too small to adequately address the low classroom temperatures. Teachers at Carver also had to move space heaters out of classrooms into the hallways because they caused classroom fuses to malfunction and prompted safety concerns.

“They’re not an adequate substitute. It’s not causing these temperatures to go up,” said a Carver parent who requested to remain anonymous. “They’re tiny little units that are outdated and for safety reasons, they can’t put out much heat or even be in classrooms at times.”

HVAC issues have become commonplace and systemic at HCPS, said some parents, with both Carver and Maybeury experiencing very warm classrooms when students returned to school this past August due to broken AC units.

If HCPS does not address the broader challenge, students and teachers will continue to endure unsafe and inadequate learning conditions, said the Carver parent.

“At the end of the day, it’s not fair to the children and to these teachers to be in this environment that’s disruptive by being displaced to other classrooms. And some of them don’t get displaced and classrooms are either very hot or very cold, and it’s not a conducive learning environment,” they said. “It’s ultimately a systemic issue at the top that needs addressing, and it’s just frustrating because it’s the children who are affected.”

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.