DENVER — Denver Public Schools continues its push to bring air conditioning into every classroom, but the process is taking time.
The district has been chipping away at its original list of 29 schools without air conditioning, thanks to funding from a voter-approved bond measure in 2024. Taxpayers approved a $975 million bond in 2024, which includes $240 million to cool the 29 schools.
“Thank you to the Denver voters for passing the 2024 bond, which is allows us to complete this project,” Denver Public Schools Director of External Communications Scott Pribble told Denver7.
There’s about 20 schools across DPS that still don’t have AC but are next in line as the district works to get air conditioning in every school.
The district said it decides which schools get AC first by using two factors: a Heat Index which tracks the hottest buildings and an Equity Index, based on things like income levels and student needs.
Now this work can only be done during the summer when kids are out of school. Crews usually finish five to seven schools each year. That’s because the work is so invasive as many buildings are older and need major upgrades to support air conditioning.
“Some of our older schools that we're working on are up to 100 years old, but many of the buildings are 40 to 60 years old, and so we're still having to retrofit them with air conditioning units. There are still hazards that are involved with that that we have to work around,” Pribble said.
Depending on the size of some schools, DPS said it could take up to two summers to complete one school.
“We can't just drop an air conditioning unit outside or on the roof and it run through the HVAC. A lot of these schools have radiant heat, and so they don't have the existing piping that we need to run the cool air. So, we're having to go through walls and run new pipes and put in units inside the building,” Pribble said.
There are also other obstacles like supply chain issues.
“It's this is not the same as putting air conditioning into a house. This is a much larger project and there are only certain number of companies who can do the work. Additionally, we have supply chain issues, and so we can only get so much of the supplies that we need to the facilities in order for us to complete that work,” Pribble said.
In the meantime, on hotter days, some schools without AC have to let students out early which DPS said can be an inconvenience to some families at times.
“We have to modify our day sometimes because when it gets really hot, especially in the fall, we can't keep kids in our building past noon or one o'clock. So, we modify those days for those schools only,” Pribble said.
He told Denver7 that the district does implement heat mitigation measures at the schools without air conditioning.
“The facilities managers show up very early to open windows so it can suck in all the cool air of the morning, but by the time the sun beats down on that brick or concrete building, it still heats up pretty well,” Pribble said.
Denver7 asked DPS how students, parents and teachers at schools with new air conditioning are feeling now.
“There's a lot of excitement because they now have full day of school. Parents aren't required to come pick up their kids early in the day, which is an inconvenience, and we understand that. That's why we try to limit that as much as possible. Having a cool and comfortable place to learn is a wonderful thing for everyone involved,” Pribble said.
DPS said the goal is to have every school air conditioned by 2028.
“We're very confident that we're going to reach this goal. Now that doesn't mean that there couldn't be something outside of our control that prevents us from getting there, but we are determined to make sure that all of our schools by 2028 will have air conditioning,” Pribble said.
