DENVER — Last week's heat wave sent many people in search of AC, hoping for the cooler temperatures we're finally seeing. A group of construction workers pushed through those hot days, working so DPS students could come back in August to cooler classrooms.
In the 2020 bond approved by voters, DPS set aside funding to install air conditioning in 24 schools.
“Schools were chosen based on an equity index and a heat index. Basically, they measured how hot classrooms got and they took that into consideration when determining the ranking for which schools would receive AC first. And in addition, they did some practices that would ensure there’s equity in the process, thinking about things like how many students receive free school lunch, how many students have additional services, things like that," said Giorgia Alexander, Bond and Levy Communications Specialist with Denver Public Schools.
Sixteen of the 24 schools had construction installed over the past few years. Construction work on the final eight schools is happening this summer. The schools getting the upgrades include:
- Polaris Elementary
- Mary G. Carson Elementary
- Cowell Elementary
- Sabin World Elementary
- Thomas Jefferson High School
- Stedman Elementary School
- Steele Elementary School
- Denver Green School
With school out and students gone, over at Thomas Jefferson High School, there's a different kind of work bringing people in.
"We are getting a new AC at Thomas Jefferson High School," Alexander said. She knows just how hot dozens of DPS buildings can be.
"It definitely gets really hot in our schools when they are not air-conditioned," Alexander said. "It has led to school closures due to extreme temperatures."
Thomas Jefferson is one of eight DPS schools getting AC installed while students are gone for summer.
"This is an example of one of the unit vents that we installed in the classrooms. So we took out the old ones, which were heating only and we installed these new ones which are going to be heating and cooling.," said Ethan Powell, Project Manager with PCL Construction.
Ethan Powell and the crew with PCL construction have been working on improvements at the school for more than a year now. Work that hasn't been easy.
"Incredibly hard. You know, I'm not going to sugar coat it. We, you got to come in and it's a lot of night work, it's a lot of split shifts," said Taylor Kern, Special Projects Manager with PCL Construction.
Crews worked right through last week's extreme heat.
"It becomes very apparent why you need air conditioning in the schools with how hot it's been getting in Denver as well as other areas, making sure students can focus on why they're here and focus on studies and not worried about sweating in class anymore," Powell said. "Definitely making sure the guys stay hydrated and stay cool out here as much as possible. Yeah, it gets hot in here for sure.”
And crews aren't just here to cool down the building.
"Yes, there's actually a ton of mechanical and plumbing upgrades that TJ needed and AC was just one of those upgrades," Alexander said.
“It’s all over the board. It’s not just HVAC. But we’re doing a lot of electrical upgrades, low voltage and controls, making sure they’ve got a lot of the smart controls inside this facilities that’s going to help them run as efficient as possible and making sure the kids and the staff are comfortable as possible," Kern said.
"They've been here for a very long time, so you want to try and maintain that history and that character of the school. At the same time, too, retrofitting it for some of this new equipment and some of this new ducting and plumbing and mechanical."
These next few weeks will be critical to finishing the work here at Thomas Jefferson in time for the next school year, work that's vital to helping students learn.
"We know that students will be able to focus a lot better when they're in a comfortable environment. So, we really want to make sure that our schools are safe and welcoming and a big part of that is making sure they're a good temperature," Alexander said.
After construction wraps up in August, there will be just 29 DPS schools without AC.
The school board is expected to vote next month on a plan to fund the installation in those remaining schools. If the board approves the plan, that bond request would go to voters in November.