As Kanawha County parents geared up this past week to pack their kids off for another school year, some might have had concerns about summertime temperatures in their school buildings.
Dunbar Intermediate School Principal Jenny Spencer said her building was warm last week as teachers and staff prepared for the return of students. Though temperatures weren't dangerously high, it was certainly an issue, she said.
"For a while (that day), (air conditioning in) the whole building was out," she said, adding that the maintenance crews were able to fix the problem by the end of the afternoon.
The Kanawha County Schools maintenance department worked with the schools to make sure things were ready by Monday, the first day of class. Spencer said crews also ran tests during the summer months to ensure that kids would be comfortable once classes began.
"They would come in and we would kind of troubleshoot and they would ask us questions if it was comfortable, if it wasn't comfortable," she said.
In September 2014, Kanawha County parents expressed concern over the hot conditions their students were under, the Charleston Gazette reported.
More than $20 million has been approved for HVAC upgrades and other facility repairs in recent years, according to that story, but Terry Hollandsworth, Kanawha County Schools' executive director of maintenance, said more funding is still needed to get all of the system's units replaced.
For example, units in South Charleston High School are nearly 25 years old, Hollandsworth said in the reports.
This year, some of those major problems have been taken care of, Hollandsworth said. He noted that Stonewall Jackson Middle School had some main circuit issues that have since been addressed.
Last year, one parent noted the fear of growing bacteria as temperatures in some classrooms reached roughly 80 degrees.
In Putnam County on Friday, Brandon Randolph and his crew were installing central air at Eastbrook Elementary School in Winfield.
"I would want these kids to be treated the same as my own kids," said Randolph, a general maintenance worker for Putnam County Schools who specializes in HVAC and carpentry.
Eastbrook Elementary, built in the 1940s, has had window air conditioning units to keep the building at comfortable temperatures. The units have become outdated, inefficient and noisy.
"They're old and they're difficult to service. Any time we have to service those, we have to bring a lift in to work on them," Randolph said.
Putnam County Schools will return for classes Aug. 20.
This year, Raleigh County will take the extra precaution for students' safety in some of the older schools, said Dave Traube, public relations coordinator for the Raleigh County Board of Education. When temperatures reach about 80 degrees, students will be moved to different areas of the school to cool down and continue their schooling, he said.
Traube hopes to avoid that this year, though.
Raleigh County schools will begin Thursday, and school buildings that are older, such as Stratton Elementary School, will have air conditioning units installed in the windows, Traube said. There is a back-order list of units that are needed, but the goal is to make sure the schools have the equipment, he said.
"We ran tests last year, and it has never been unsafe for students. We just don't want them to be uncomfortable," he said.
Raleigh County schools that already have air conditioning are "ready to roll," Traube said. "All units are up to date and there have been no failures in any wing" of the buildings.
Reach Megan Kennedy at megan.kennedy@dailymailwv.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @wvschools on Twitter.