CHARLESTON, W.Va.— Poorly running air conditioning units forced Kanawha County school officials to close seven schools early Friday as the heat index approached 100 degrees.
South Charleston, George Washington, Capital and St. Albans high schools closed early along with South Charleston Middle School and Grandview Elementary. The county didn’t even open Ben Franklin Career and Technical Center because of air conditioning problems.
Kanawha County began the new school year last Monday, Aug. 8, the earliest start in the state, a date Kanawha County Board of Education member Pete Thaw voted against several months ago but Thaw was not saying ‘I told you so’ on Friday.
“There’s no joy in this,” Thaw said.
The school system has spent several millions of dollars updating its air conditioning systems in recent years but Thaw said even that is no match for temperatures in the 90’s with matching humidity.
“This is August heat, brother, and August heat is another kind of heat. When you get up in the 90’s that’s another ball game and we can’t handle that,” Thaw said.
Thaw has long been a proponent of returning the school year to a more traditional calendar that begins just after Labor Day and ends just after Memorial Day. He was beating that drum again Friday.
“If those dates sound familiar just check your own memory,” he said, adding school board members should be quizzed by voters at election time on where they stand when it comes to the start of school.
Thaw predicted there may be more early dismissals before August is over.
“Absolutely this will repeat itself,” he said. “I was beat 4 to 1 on this (the early school calendar vote). It wasn’t even close and they keep dragging out the same calendar every year—except it’s always earlier.”