HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — A broken cooling tower at Fair Oaks Elementary School has left students without air conditioning for more than a week, prompting health concerns from parents as temperatures rise.
Henrico County Public Schools confirmed the outage and said technicians are working to secure a temporary cooling unit while waiting for a large replacement. In the meantime, the school is using fans and providing frequent water breaks.
The mother of a first grader said her son's class was moved to a different part of the building due to the heat. She fears the conditions could trigger severe health issues for her child, who has a brain condition and severe asthma.
"I reached out because of health concerns," the mother said. "Especially with his asthma, it really sets him off, causing effects that last weeks at a time where he will need to go to the doctor and see his lung doctor."
She keeps a bag of medication and equipment ready for emergencies, which she believes are more likely in the hot building.
"I don’t need to get a call or want to get a call from the school saying my son is being rushed to the hospital because the school is too hot," she said.
The mother said her son already misses school for doctor's appointments and might have to miss the rest of the school year if the air conditioning is not fixed.
"We already miss plenty of school with doctor’s appointments," she said. "So now my only concern is, when it is going to be fixed, why has it not been fixed and what are we going to do?"
A school district spokesperson said HCPS received $10 million from its capital improvement plan this school year to address issues with more than 500 HVAC units across 74 schools and centers. Next year, that funding will double to $20 million.
"The only thing I want to happen is for the children to have some kind of relief from the heat until the school year is over and then have the central air unit that’s in the school fixed before kids have to return to school next year," the mother said. "I’m hoping Henrico County does fix it, because it’s not OK."
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