DENVER — This week, kids in Denver Public Schools, the state's largest school district, will head back to class for the start of the new school year.
And with hot August weather forecasted for the first few days of school, concerns over air conditioning are back to the front of many parents' minds.
Many DPS schools still don't have air conditioning. It's a problem the district has been working to address for years.
For the first time, West High School will start the year off with air conditioning. During a press conference unveiling the new AC upgrades earlier this month, Principal Mia Martinez Lopez stressed how vital this upgrade will be.
"I want you all to imagine how difficult it was to teach and learn in an environment that could be described as miserably hot for several months of the year," Martinez Lopez said.
West is one of two dozen schools that were selected to get air conditioning after voters approved a bond in 2020. According to the district, schools were ranked and chosen based on equity and heating indexes to ensure fairness.
So far, 11 of the 24 schools have finished their AC upgrades. Another 13 are still in progress.
"Six more DPS schools will have their AC and cooling upgraded in the next upcoming weeks," district Chief Operations Officer Trena Marsal said.
The remaining seven schools are scheduled to have their AC work done next year.
That will mean more than 40 DPS schools will start their school year off without air conditioning, and 31 of those have no plans right now to get AC anytime soon.
But DPS said they're not ignoring this.
"The 31 remaining schools are still a priority for the district. We have not forgotten these facilities and they still need support," Marsal said. "We do continue to seek funding opportunities to ensure that we meet every student's need in every school in every community."
For West, after decades spent without air conditioning in the classrooms, Martinez Lopez said this change will make a world of difference for students.
"Now they can focus on their learning and not the temperature," Martinez Lopez said.
For schools that don't have air conditioning, DPS has heat mitigation strategies in place to help. They use portable cooling devices and fans, and purge the buildings at night to let the cool air in. DPS said they also have building managers monitoring the temperatures throughout the day and are ready to call a heat day if necessary.
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