ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Every year, summer heat makes the start of Albuquerque’s school year uncomfortable for kids in a lot of classrooms. But faced with an option to try to solve that problem parents are saying “no way.”
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It’s a perennial problem for APS at the start of each school year. Parents raising concerns about hot classrooms and problems with school cooling. “The classrooms were very hot and a lot of the classrooms here were hot and I think that it made it very hard for them to be able to concentrate in the hot classrooms,” said Melissa Marrufo, grandmother.
So, this year, Albuquerque Public Schools asked parents about possible changes, launching a survey in October asking if the district should push back school’s start to late August when temperatures drop. However, in an overwhelming vote, APS now seems unlikely to make a big shift to its calendar. With nearly 13,000 people responding, 78% voted to keep the early August start date versus late August for the next two school years.
“I don’t think it would be much of a difference than the first of August than the end of August on the temperature,” said Bobby Valdez, great-uncle of an APS student.
One parent told KRQE News 13, they don’t support a later start saying kids getting out of school in June would overlap with sports schedules.
“We literally are school, baseball, you know other sports and stuff like that and there is no room to go visit family in other states, no vacation times,” said Trecia McClellan, mother of an APS student.
The same survey indicated that parents consider upgrades to heating and cooling systems as a top priority for the district. “That schools don’t start until they do have ACs for the children so that they aren’t hot in the classrooms because it’s very difficult for them especially being so young. It’s hard to be in a classroom when it’s hot,” said Melissa Marrufo, grandmother of an APS student.
In response to the results, the district said it will recommend keeping the current early August school start.
KRQE News 13 asked the district about replacing swamp coolers with air conditioning units. While they say it’s possible, it’s also tens of millions of dollars per school because those projects would also require electrical and roof upgrades. The board is expected to decide on the next school calendar in their December 4 meeting.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
