Multiple Houston ISD classrooms reach temps of 82 degrees at Harvard Elementary School in the Heights

HOUSTON – Multiple classrooms at a Houston Independent School District elementary school reached over 80 degrees on Friday as the district continues to deal with A/C issues at multiple campuses.

KPRC 2 sources confirmed that several classrooms at Harvard Elementary School reached over 82 degrees during a heat advisory.

READ: Flirting with fire! 🥵 Heat advisory for Houston extended through Friday evening

According to our meteorologist team, temps climbed to the upper-90s and it will feel like 108°-112° at the heat of the day on Friday.

One room at the elementary school was 89 degrees. Teachers had to reportedly move students to the cafeteria and in the hallways where it was cooler.

We were told at least eight classrooms were 82+ degrees, with one staff member writing, “I’m beyond frustrated. There have been major HVAC issues all last year that were not addressed. It’s difficult to focus on instruction with these environmental issues.”

RELATED: HISD working to fix air conditioning issues in classrooms on first week of classes

On Tuesday, HISD superintendent Mike Miles said it’s going to be a fight every day through the rest of September and probably well into October with the heat issues for classrooms without A/C

“But we were able to keep all the classrooms -- not all the classrooms -- but all the schools cool enough to where the, the kids had a comfortable learning environment,” Miles said during Tuesday’s news conference. “Every day there’s going to be some classrooms here or there that get warm, and we might have to move some kids. But we were not, we did not have to close any schools today. Again, that’s a feat every day for our maintenance department, to keep the air conditioning units going.”

RELATED: Parents peeved Houston ISD students at school with no A/C, Mike Miles says overall it’s been a strong day

On Wednesday, KPRC 2 obtained video of water dripping from an A/C system inside a classroom at Harvard Elementary School. Parents at Love Elementary School have also reached out, saying their students’ classroom were hot.

HISD Administration sent KPRC 2 the following statement Wednesday:

“Although many of our systems are older and need frequent attention, the HISD team is hard at work identifying and addressing any issues with air conditioning in our schools. We are aware that several schools have ac issues in a handful of classrooms and we are working to address those issues with both immediate and long term solutions. The students who are impacted by those few classrooms have been temporarily moved to other air-conditioned spaces in their school buildings so they can continue to learn in comfortable and productive environments. Out of HISD’s 274 schools we are aware of four schools with ac issues impacting a handful of classrooms. We are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. Temporary solutions are in place to ensure that students are learning in a comfortable and safe environment.”

During a meeting earlier this week, Miles said temperature guns were being used to monitor heat inside the classrooms.

KPRC 2 asked what the threshold is for heat inside the classroom.

‘Making good headway’: Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles visits 3 campuses, addresses hiccups on 2nd day of school

“We look at 82 degrees to be too hot,” Miles said. “It’s not dangerous, but it’s too warm for a kid to concentrate or a teacher to teach well. So that’s warm, but there’s a balance somewhere and we think that’s the line.”