Parents at schools in Los Angeles and Long Beach are calling on officials to improve air conditioning systems in their children's classrooms during the sweltering heat.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials usually get about 100 calls a day requesting repairs of broken air conditioners, but the past few days, they've received three to four times as many calls, including from West Adams Prep in the Pico Union area. The district now has a backlog of 2,900 service requests.
Crews are working 12 hour shifts and on weekends to fix broken air conditioning units in LAUSD classrooms. The heat wave has forced AC units to run longer and with many being older, they're breaking down in record numbers.
"Two days ago the AC in this classroom went down," said Maryann Sullivan, the principal at 24th Street Elementary School. "Yesterday they came to fix it and discovered we need to build a platform first."
Usually what schools do is allow students to move to classrooms or space with air conditioning, said Roger Finstad, director of maintenance and operations with LAUSD.
Students at 24th Street Elementary School in South Los Angeles were relocated while repairs are underway. The district is also supplying fans to schools which don't have room to relocate students during the heat wave.
LAUSD officials have set aside more than $300 million to replace old air conditioners with new ones, but it'll take up to five years to replace all of them.
At Herbert C. Hoover Middle School in Lakewood, students opened up windows and drank more water to try to stay comfortable, but parents say that's not enough.
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"Yesterday the teacher said that the classroom was 115 degrees," said Brenda Munio, a parent of Riley Elementary School, where her son attends.
It's an ongoing problem in the Long Beach Unified School District, where many buildings have outdated electrical systems. Last year, a lack of air conditioning at 70 percent of Long Beach public schools led officials to shorten the school day.
But Long Beach Unified's district spokesman Chris Eftychiou said 40 percent of schools in the district are entirely air-conditioned, and other schools have some form of air conditioning.
"We would like to provide more relief and agree with people who are calling for more air conditioning," said Eftychiou, adding it would cost about $700 million to make the necessary improvements across the district.
"I'm sure the district people are all sitting in their comfy air conditioning and these kids are expected to learn," said Chastity Rustman, a parent at Riley Elementary School.
Earlier this week, parents were notified that school would be dismissed early Thursday and Friday due to the heat.
Now, frustrated parents want to see change and have started an online petition calling on Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser to install air conditioning in all district schools.
"I think there are power in numbers and parents have a lot of power," said Munio. "We only want the best for our students as well as the school district."
