CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With the high temperatures we've had, it's hard for most of us to imagine having to sit indoors with no air conditioning.
That's what students at Haas Middle School had to endure yesterday, but that's not the only thing that has their parents steamed.
The principal at the middle school sent out the first phone notification to parents about no air conditioning after 6 p.m. Monday. Some parents say they did not even get notified at all, but all agree they should have been told much sooner.
Jim Aranda, who has a son who goes to the school, said he got a text from his son first thing in the morning that the air conditioning was not working.
"And he told me that it was so hot in there that the humidity, the actual floors were wet from the humidity and they were slipping and sliding," said Aranda.
The school's principal, Anna Fuentes learned about the issue just before the start of the school day yesterday. District contractors told her the repairs would be done by mid-afternoon.
"They believed they could quickly repair it and get the AC back up before 1:00, if not sooner," said Fuentes.
The problem was a break in a line that feeds water into the air conditioners cooling units. The fix turned out to be complicated, delaying those repairs.
However, many of the kids were still sitting in classrooms that were way too hot so eventually some of them began contacting their parents asking them to pick them up from school.
The repair took about all day to clean up and fix. But not before many parents became worried about their child's safety.
Some took to social media saying their children came home dehydrated or with a headache. Many were left wondering why they couldn't be notified earlier in the day.
"They should have notified the parents," parent Jordan Boudreaux said. "And something should have been said immediately, like you have this option to get your child or not," another parent added.
"I definitely would have notified the parents and informed them so that they could be the ones that judged whether or not they wanted to leave their children here," said Fuentes.
Fuentes adds, ultimately, the decision to cancel school has to come from the district.
She says the district decided not to cancel classes based on the initial estimate that the repairs would not take long.
About 300 students were picked up from school early, which is nearly half of the students who attend Haas Middle School. Those students will be given an excused absence for the day.
