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Huntsville Times
Patricia McCarter
8/15/2005 

School was out at Grissom High at 12:30 p.m. today because of air conditioning problems, but school officials said everything should be cool for classes to resume Tuesday morning.

	"The school has a limited number of windows, and the building is quite warm right now,” said director of safety and transportation for Huntsville City Schools. “It is not designed to be run in August without air conditioning. “If this mechanical problem had happened in the middle of October, no one would’ve known.” Of course, Huntsville City Schools will be on Fall Break the second week of October.....

“The school has a limited number of windows, and the building is quite warm right now,” said Kyle Koski, director of safety and transportation for Huntsville City Schools. “It is not designed to be run in August without air conditioning.

“If this mechanical problem had happened in the middle of October, no one would’ve known.”

The stuffiness was noted early into the class day, and the decision was made to let the 2,000 students leave by midday. The buses ran at 12:30, while other students called their parents or drove home.

“We’re confident, and we hoping and we’re doing everything we can to have it fixed for school on Tuesday,” Koski said.

The students will not have to make up the half day.

Cool enough for school

Challen Stephens

Cooler classrooms welcomed students back to Grissom High this morning.

A day after the air conditioning failed, shutting down the school Monday, Grissom opened as normal, said Superintendent Ann Roy Moore. She said repair crews worked through the night to repair the air conditioning system.

Principal Tom Drake said one of two chillers are working today. “It’s enough to get the moisture out. Temperature is satisfactory, I guess. Classes are being held,” said Drake on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, it wasn’t the temperatures that forced the school to send students home at mid-day. “The dampness in the classrooms was what was really hard on the kids,” said Drake.

Classrooms, most of which do not have windows, saw temperatures between 80 and 85 degrees on Monday, said Drake. But he said the humidity led to damp surfaces and floors.

Drake said major repairs are to take place a month from now.