The Duval County school district is responding to concerns about air conditioning problems in schools — urging patience and saying it takes the issues seriously.
News4JAX received complaints from people at three different schools about AC problems, all while high-heat advisories are in effect. Among those raising concerns is a mother who says her special-needs son may need to switch schools because of the conditions.
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A mother’s concern
Mia Parker recorded video of her 5-year-old non-verbal autistic son, Myozjh Mason, being pulled from school Monday, visibly sweaty because she says the air conditioning was not working.
“My son is on medication. He also has allergies. If the air is not flowing, they can’t thrive off that,” Parker said.
Parker says she reached out to the school principal, district office and teachers — but still wants to pull her child from the school.
“They had all summer to fix it and they didn’t. Also, I said to her, y’all are teachers. You all are very smart around here. Why didn’t y’all move these kids to another room that had proper AC,” Parker said. “She said it wasn’t hot enough.”
Parker also questioned the district’s awareness of the scope of the problem.
“If you’re operating an elementary school, you should be aware of how many rooms are down with AC,” she said.
Complaints span multiple schools
The concerns are not limited to one school or one part of town. The News4JAX I-Team received a message from a student at First Coast High School stating the school had been operating for two days without air conditioning.
A complaint was also filed about Loretto Elementary in the Mandarin area of Jacksonville.
District responds
Duval County Public Schools sent a district-wide email to families acknowledging the problem and outlining the steps being taken to address it.
“We do want to acknowledge the intermittent AC outages that have occurred at some schools across the district. We understand how concerning these situations can be for families, and we want you to know that we take these issues seriously,” the district wrote.
The district says its HVAC team is working quickly to make repairs, and that students may be temporarily moved to cooler areas of the building while work is being completed.
“The safety and well-being of our students and staff remain top priorities. When an air conditioning problem is reported, our dedicated HVAC team works diligently to make repairs as quickly as possible,” the district said.
Older schools, long-term fixes
DCPS pointed to the age of its buildings as a key factor in the ongoing challenges.
“As many of you may remember, Team Duval is home to some of the oldest schools in Florida. That is why voters approved the half-penny sales tax in 2020, providing funding to address deferred maintenance and rebuild or modernize more than 140 schools, including replacing and upgrading aging AC systems. We are actively working toward that goal and continue to make meaningful progress,” the district said.
The district is encouraging families with concerns to contact their school’s principal directly, saying principals are committed to working with families and district staff to ensure concerns are addressed quickly and appropriately.
News4JAX is continuing to work to determine how many schools are dealing with air conditioning issues and how long repairs are expected to take.