Ida Baker is second Lee County school facing A/C trouble

Reporter: Anika Henanger
Published: Updated:

Summer’s warm temperatures are in full swing but unfortunately for some local schools, functioning air conditioning is not.

Oasis High students had a hot start to their fall semester with broken air conditioning. And now Ida Baker High School has lost air-conditioning in some classrooms as well.

The school staff say they hope to have the air conditioning fixed at Ida Baker next Tuesday.

Until then, however, about eight or nine classrooms aren’t cooling down which raises concern among parents.

“When he’s at home he’s used to air conditioning, and this being Southwest Florida, you need some air conditioning,” said John Hubbard.

Hubbard says his son is sweating out his senior year and it has nothing to do with hard work.

“When you’re uncomfortable you don’t function as well,” Hubbard said.

The Lee County School District says it’s been just about a week since A/C stopped running at full capacity at Ida Baker.

“Find a place to take the kids to get them A/C you know,”  said Bobby Delanoy whose niece attends Ida Baker. “It’s hot out here! I don’t understand how they could teach in heat like this.”

Parents like Tammy McBride say when you are trying to pay attention in the classroom, even a little bit of uncomfortable heat, especially in the middle of August, makes it difficult to learn.

“Sitting in a classroom where it’s warm all the time is probably terrible for his focus,” McBride said.

Although Ida Baker is expecting to receive the parts to fix the air conditioning by next Tuesday, some parents wonder why it wasn’t check and repaired before the start of school.

Meanwhile at Oasis High, where administrators say the air conditioning is back up and running, but it will take months to completely replace the system.

Compared to that timeline, Ida Baker parents say they are okay with waiting it out.

“Sometimes things happen that are out of our control,” Delanoy said.

The Lee County School District say Ida Baker and Oasis High School are the only schools with air-conditioning trouble right now.

WINK News asked and the district said it wasn’t detected beforehand, and the air conditioners simply weren’t under the same pressure they are now that kids are back in school.

Teachers are handing out plenty of water to students in the meantime and staff suggest bringing extra water and wearing light, cool clothing to campus.

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