24 Wake County schools had heating issues Tuesday

Hundreds of Wake County students and teachers had to make do in chilly classrooms on Tuesday as the heating systems at 24 schools needed repairs on Tuesday.

The repairs are expected to be complete at the schools by Wednesday, except for Apex Middle School, said Wake schools spokeswoman Lisa Luten. A pipe burst at the school, affecting its HVAC system.

Most of the heating issues Tuesday stemmed from schools’ older HVAC systems reacting to the extremely cold temperatures, Luten said. The systems were turned on Monday, she said, but “turning them on, along with the cold weather that we had [Monday night], created some issues.”

After arriving to school late Tuesday because of the district-wide two-hour delay, students at Green Hope High School were sent home at 11:30 a.m. because the heating system wasn’t working.

Apex Middle School students were not dismissed early Tuesday because the buses didn’t have enough time to turn around from their morning routes and return to Apex so close to high school dismissal times, Luten said.

Some students at Apex Middle and Cary High School, which also struggled with heating issues, were moved to other parts of buildings.

Luten said Green Hope High and Apex Middle families would be notified about Wednesday’s schedule. But temperatures at the other schools should be warmer Wednesday.

“A lot of those issues were resolved by the end of the day, or they were isolated to certain parts of the building,” Luten said.

This story was originally published January 2, 2018 at 7:09 PM with the headline "24 Wake County schools had heating issues Tuesday."