Brevard schools report A/C problems as heat index soars on first day

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – ***UPDATE: 5:22 p.m. 8/12/2019***

Brevard Public Schools released a statement on the issue:

Several schools in South Brevard experienced outages today to telephones, internet and air-conditioning systems, and we apologize for the discomfort and inconvenience it caused.  The outages were caused by a failure in equipment operated by the school district’s internet service provider.  
 
AT&T is working continuously to restore that service, upon which school telephones, intercoms, and air-conditioning controls rely.   At three neighboring schools in West Melbourne -- which share a cooling plant -- the school district is renting a temporary chiller to assist aging air-conditioning equipment. 
 
All Brevard schools are expected to open and operate normally Tuesday. We are not asking parents to keep students home from school.
 
Thank you for your patience.

***ORIGINAL***

As the heat index soared, at least five Brevard County schools reported problems with air conditioning on the first day of class.

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According to News 6 partner Florida Today, Brevard Public Schools spokeswoman Nicki Hensley said A/C problems or outages were reported Monday at the following schools:

• Central Middle School in West Melbourne;
• Meadowlane Primary Elementary in West Melbourne; 
• Meadowlane Intermediate Elementary in West Melbourne;
• Three classrooms in Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary on Merritt Island; and,
• Building 4 at Pinewood Elementary in Mims.
• Problems were corrected at both Meadowlane schools, Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary and Pinewood Elementary by 1:30 p.m., Hensley said.

The school district was awaiting further information from Central Middle School, according to Florida Today.

Dismissal times were not affected at any of the schools, Hensley said.

The National Weather Service in Melbourne predicted a heat index of between 100 and 106 degrees Monday for most of the Space Coast.

"The issues I've heard of have been resolved, it's just taking a little longer for the classrooms to cool down," Hensley said.

Meadowlane Primary and Intermediate also reported telephone and internet outages, which AT&T was working to resolve, she said.

"We're not quite sure what's going on," Hensley said. "We're trying to get to the bottom of it."

None of the schools were scheduled for A/C upgrades or repairs this year, she said. Repairs were recently made at Building 1 at Robert Louis Stevenson, but the three affected classrooms were in Building 2.