All Anne Arundel County schools are expected to be open today after the region?s first punch of summer weather Tuesday knocked out the air conditioning at four schools and sent students at one high school home early.
Greg Nourse, assistant superintendent for business and management services, said district officials hope to have the air back on by today. He said students would not have to make up lost time because only a handful of schools closed early.
“Every year when we get the first hot day, this happens,” Nourse said. “Things break down.”
Nourse said officials try to decide whether to close schools for lack of air conditioning by 5 a.m., similar to the procedure for snow days. The district typically fields half a dozen air-conditioning outages on the first hot day despite the annual pre-season maintenance, he said.
Van Bokkelen Elementary in Severn and Chesapeake Bay Middle in Pasadena were both closed before the school day began due to broken air conditioners.
Students at Arundel High in Gambrills were dismissed two hours early. Arundel High, the only county high school without air conditioning, is scheduled to have a new central air-conditioning system by August.
Richard Henry Lee Elementary School in Glen Burnie and Deale Elementary also reported partial outages late in the school day, but students were not dismissed early.
Mary Wagner, principal at Richard Henry Lee Elementary, said teachers tried to keep students cool in a windowless building designed for open-space classrooms.
“We didn?t have a downright cool place to put them [the students] today,” she said. Instead, teachers opted for quiet activities like educational movies.
Baltimore City Schools dismissed students at noon Tuesday due to the heat, and Glenelg High School in Howard County closed at 11:30 a.m.
All schools in Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties remained in session.
