SAN ANTONIO – UPDATE: SAISD officials said Fox Tech High School students will be taken to San Antonio College for classes since the college is not in session this week.
Each teacher will have a classroom for instruction.
The principal of Fox Tech made the decision to move the classes to SAC since the air conditioning repairs have not been completed.
(Previously)
Two San Antonio Independent School District campuses had air conditioning issues on the first day of school when outside temperatures soared near 100 degrees.
"It's disappointing for everyone. What we can do is move as quickly as possible to get it fixed and, of course, move students around," said Leslie Price, SAISD spokesperson.
Sam Houston and Fox Tech high schools each had air conditioning outages Monday.
At Sam Houston, most of one hallway and its classrooms on the second floor of the school were without air conditioning. Students were moved to cooler rooms, Price said.
Some repairs were performed Monday, but more work is needed. Price said students would be moved to cool areas in the building on Tuesday while the repairs are made.
Sam Houston is slated for $33 million in renovations using money approved in the 2016 bond election. Two wings were renovated over the summer and have new air conditioning systems, Price said. The hallway with the issue Monday still has the older systems in place.
The president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, Shelley Potter, said staff members complained about hot classrooms last week as they were preparing for the start of school. Potter said they were told it would be fixed Thursday; however, the problem persisted Monday.
"We knew there were some problems at Sam Houston, unfortunately it didn't get fixed," Price said.
The main campus of Fox Tech High School also had a steamy start to the school year. The air conditioning went out on the third floor, affecting students from Fox Tech and Advanced Learning Academy.
Students in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades were bused to the Alamo Convocation Center, where they ate lunch and continued classes.
Repairs were made Monday afternoon and all but six classrooms have working air conditioning. Fox Tech students in the six classrooms without air conditioning will be moved to another area of the campus Tuesday until the repairs are completed, Price said.
"It's unfortunate, sometimes it can happen, and what we do is move the kids as quickly as possible into cooler areas," Price said.
Price said maintenance crews did a lot of work at the schools over the summer but said issues can still pop up when there are 92 campuses in the district.
Fox Tech is also pegged for major renovations with 2016 bond money.