SAN ANTONIO – After reaching out to the San Antonio Independent School District multiple times since Tuesday, officials explained why its schools remained closed on Wednesday.
Following a wintry mix and freezing temperatures, all school districts in Bexar County canceled school on Tuesday. However, SAISD was the only Bexar County school district to cancel classes on Wednesday, as well.
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Despite the district’s history of trouble heating its schools, Superintendent Jaime Aquino did not directly mention “heating” or “HVAC” as a reason in a message to parents on Tuesday night. Instead, he cited safety concerns for students, “especially those walking or waiting at bus stops early in the morning.”
“We have worked diligently to prepare SAISD’s facilities for the cold temperatures; however, we recognize that the age of some buildings presents unique challenges,” Aquino also wrote.
A spokesperson did not directly address KSAT’s questions Tuesday whether HVAC issues played into the decision to cancel.
KSAT attended SAISD’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday and approached Aquino for comment beforehand. He declined, saying he would make comments during the board meeting.
Moments before the meeting began, Aquino told KSAT that Deputy Superintendent Patti Salzmann would answer questions.
Salzmann acknowledged a concern that HVAC systems wouldn’t work correctly in the cold was one of the reasons for Wednesday’s closures.
“It’s (heating and HVAC systems) not the only factor,” Salzmann told KSAT. “The temperature differential is one.The extremely low temperatures are certainly a consideration because they do cause our systems to work a little harder. The fact that we have quite a few — over 8,000 — bus riders is also a significant factor.”
KSAT has reported on malfunctioning heating and HVAC issues in SAISD schools since January 2024. During a cold snap earlier this month, the district said heating systems went down at at least six SAISD schools.
Some SAISD parents spoke to KSAT and shared their frustration with the district’s decision to close schools for a second time in two days.
Salzmann doesn’t believe the school district is downplaying its heating and HVAC problems.
“I think we’ve been very open and transparent about our HVAC issues,” Salzmann said. “We are the only district that has so many buildings that are of significant age, well beyond what most architectural designers would have envisioned as the life span of a school building. So, we have schools that are approaching — or are over — 100 years (old).
“And so some of these buildings were not designed to even have heating and cooling. While that may be unique to SAISD, I know that other districts, as they make these decisions, also weigh their infrastructure and their ability to make sure that we’re able to respond to the weather.”
During Wednesday’s board meeting, Aquino commented on SAISD’s decision to close schools but did not discuss any heating or HVAC issues, specifically. Instead, he used similar language to Tuesday’s message to parents about “unique challenges.”
“While most districts decided to remain open, we made the decision to close due to the exceptionally cold weather forecast,” Aquino said, in part, during the meeting. “I want to apologize to our families for any inconvenience this decision may have caused.”
In a Jan. 8 letter sent to SAISD parents, Aquino said the district would need “in excess of” $584 million to bring its mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems — including HVAC — to “bring them up to industry standards.”
Salzmann said Wednesday that getting a new chiller or boiler at a school could take more than a year.
“While we’ve been investing, and we’ve been making steady progress, we are by no means in a position to say all of our HVAC issues are taken care of,” Salzmann said, in part. “At the same time, we have made many of the improvements that were outlined in the after-action report. Our teams are much more responsive. We’re able to fix systems faster.”
The district has since announced its classes will resume on Thursday, Jan. 23.
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