ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Students at University High School in Orange County are heading into their second week of school without reliable air conditioning and parents say the heat is taking a real toll on their kids.<\/p>\n
With feels-like temperatures topping 100 degrees across Central Florida, parents say classrooms have become too hot to learn in. One parent, who asked not to be identified, says her daughter came home sick three days in a row.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happened three days in a row where she had a headache, didn\u2019t feel good, really hot and red in the face,\u201d the parent said.<\/p>\n
The situation got bad enough that she had to pull her daughter out early.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to dismiss her from school — she was dehydrated, she stated her whole body hurt,\u201d the parent said. \u201cShe feels like she can\u2019t concentrate in class.\u201d<\/p>\n
University High School parents received a message through the school\u2019s portal Monday stating, \u201cOur school is experiencing an issue with the air conditioning on campus. OCPS maintenance has been notified and is working on it. We will do our best to keep students & staff as comfortable as possible while it gets fixed. Additional water breaks will be provided.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for some parents, that notice didn\u2019t come soon enough.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable. I feel like by day two, if they hadn\u2019t fixed the AC, then we should have been alerted immediately,\u201d one parent said.<\/p>\n
The parent also said fans were placed in classrooms, but they weren\u2019t providing much relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe reported they do have fans, but the fans are just circulating hot air,\u201d the parent said.<\/p>\n
In a statement to News 6, Orange County Public Schools said the air conditioning outage at University High School happened late Monday afternoon. <\/p>\n
The district added: \u201cGiven the extreme heat our area has experienced over the past week, air conditioning systems are operating under increased strain and, like any mechanical equipment, can occasionally experience unexpected failures.\u201d<\/p>\n
An OCPS teacher told News 6 before the start of the school year that broken AC is not an uncommon problem and that it directly affects students\u2019 ability to learn.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my air conditioning\u2019s not working, my students aren\u2019t learning, because we\u2019re all hot, and we\u2019re tired, and we\u2019re cranky, and we\u2019re angry and a fan is not doing it,\u201d the teacher said.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the parent says her daughter is now packing extra water every day to get through the school day.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I\u2019m sending her to school with three (water bottles) and I\u2019m freezing them so it will last her the entire day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
OCPS says maintenance has been notified and is working to resolve the issue. <\/p>\n
News 6 will continue to follow this story.<\/p>\n
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