By Scott Thomas

Students and staff will soon be getting relief from the heat as district crews repair aging and stressed air conditioning systems across the Austin Independent School District.

Why it Matters: Students and staff have reported hotter-than-normal classroom temperatures this summer in some Austin ISD facilities. Crews are dealing with aging infrastructure in many schools as well as longer-than-normal wait times for parts indirectly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Newer or modernized schools aren’t having the same HVAC issues that some of the older campuses are.

Driving the News: On top of the normal issues a school district works through with older schools and high temperatures, more classrooms are opening windows to increase ventilation, which puts an additional strain on the system.

• Austin ISD has purchased and deployed over 5,600 air purifiers to ensure high-quality air, reducing the need for open windows.

What you can do: If your classroom or school is having HVAC issues, ask your principal to put in a service ticket. Additionally, if your classroom has an air purifier, there’s less of a need to open the windows. If it doesn’t have an air purifier, you can ask for one via a service ticket as well.