DENVER — Classrooms around Denver were empty Tuesday afternoon. It was simply too hot for kids to learn in schools without air conditioning.
It took just one day into the new school year for the first classes to be cancelled. While some schools will soon get air conditioning, others could be waiting for years.
"School is let out early because it’s 93 degrees right now and it’s only going to get hotter," said Bryce Holder as he walked his daughter home from Godsman Elementary in southwest Denver. "I really don’t think they should’ve started school today."
Holder and his daughter held umbrellas as they walked home. The thermostat flashing on the side of the school read 95 degrees. Holder knows it’s not much cooler inside his daughter's school.
Godsman is one of 14 Denver Public Schools that let out early on Tuesday because of a lack of air conditioning. Yet, the wait to get A/C at the school could take years. Back in 2020, DPS prioritized which schools without A/C would get it first. Godsman is number 48 on this list of 55.
"I know they’ve been rolling things out for the last couple years, and I wish the little ones had a higher priority," Holder said. "I worry about heat in these classrooms. This school and other schools. I worry about that a lot."
When Denver voters passed the bond measure in 2020, DPS invested $130 million to install air conditioning in 24 schools. Only 11 of those construction projects have been completed. That still leaves dozens of schools without A/C in Denver and without any plan to fund more projects that could get them A/C any time soon.
"Even on days when it’s not 95 or 100, it can get really hot in that building and it makes it really hard for them to learn," said Tara Willis, a parent of two students at Stedman Elementary in Park Hill. "On the second floor of a building with no air conditioning, with the sun beating down and not a ton of shade, it gets really, really hot."
Stedman is at the top of the list to get air conditioning next. Construction there is supposed to be completed sometime next year.
DPS ranks which schools will get it first based on a series of measurements. First, a temperature study to find which schools are the hottest. Next, an equity index to determine the percentage of students at a school that are classified as higher poverty or that don't speak English. And finally, a study on which schools without A/C have the most students.
"Not just the students, the teachers, the administrators have to teach. This is not good working or learning conditions. It’s not conducive to either," Willis said. "We know how to fix this. We need to get air conditioning in all the schools in DPS."
Willis picked up her third-grade daughter from her first day of school and learned she went to the nurse complaining about headaches. Tuesday, Stedman made the decision to also let students out early.
DPS says the decision to let students out early is made on a school-by-school basis. The principal has to request to cancel classes and then it’s approved by the district. It was a hot day for everyone, but it seems like some principals think their students can deal with the heat in the classroom while others just sent kids home.
The district says around 40 schools still don’t have A/C. But there’s not enough money to install it in 31 of those.
"There are a lot of schools without hope of getting air conditioning anytime soon," Willis said.
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