Sweating the system: HVAC failures plague 15 Wake County schools before end-of-grade testing

Some Joyner Elementary parents considered pulling their kids out of the Raleigh school on Thursday after the air conditioning went down for part of the day.

The school needs an HVAC replacement and is currently in the planning-and-design phase for one, according to the Wake County Public School System.

“We’ve had this continuously on and off [for] weeks since April 13,” said Myranda Harper-Penn, a parent of a student at Joyner Elementary School.

Fellow Joyner Elementary School parent Meg Bernstien shared Harper-Penn’s sentiments.

“Not only do we have weeks to go, but we have EOG [end-of-grade] testing coming up, and I have a fourth and fifth grader, and I can only imagine what they’ll have to endure in the heat if the system breaks down again, which is quite likely,” Bernstien said.

The Triangle set records for heat this week, with five straight days of high temperatures.

Technicians have been busy this week across the Wake County Public School System, with 15 schools experiencing HVAC issues.

Some parents have dropped off their children with box fans.

WRAL News asked Wake County Public School System Superintendent Robert Taylor if he has any concerns about students’ test results or their placement due to the air-conditioning issues. He said fixing HVAC issues in schools is a top priority.

"We have no concerns about test results. We do know environmental conditions can absolutely affect where kids are," Taylor said. "What I can tell you is that while we continue to experience problems, those problems are not nearly as bad as they were in the past. So, our maintenance staff is working feverishly to make sure these are not issues."

The Wake County Public School System does not have a written standard that when classrooms get too hot, students will be sent home. The district leaves that decision to principals, who evaluate a variety of factors, including the time of day and whether instruction can realistically continue.

HVAC issues are a long-standing problem in Wake County schools. During the 2024-2025 school year, Wake schools closed or dismissed early 46 times due to HVAC issues. 

Last year, the school system added training for some school employees to help identify problems faster.

Wake County Public School System Chief of Facilities and Operations Mark Strickland said the district has made some progress in replacing HVACs at schools, but the big issue is their maintenance. He said the district is having trouble funding those positions and paying staff.

"We have not done a great job of maintaining things that comes down to budget and staffing and what we can pay people," Strickland said.

The district has modified its capital improvement plan and allocated more money to help offset $200 million in deferred maintenance. Strickland there was between $40 million and $45 million allocated in 2025-26 to work on school HVAC systems. It is nearly double what the district spent on HVACs in 2022-23, Strickland said.

"We do need to increase our capacity to manage and maintain these schools, and that's going to be a budget challenge that the district is going to have to work on this coming year," he said.

Earlier this week, Strickland said the district had four to six schools with HVAC issues on Monday alone.

"Some of them were whole-school issues," Strickland said. "Some of them were isolated to classrooms or wings [of the school]."

Specifically, Salem Elementary School in Apex and Reedy Creek Middle School in Cary had HVAC issues this week. Temperatures reached the 80s in some classrooms while is was in the 90s outside.

On Thursday, WRAL News reached out to Cumberland County Schools, Durham Public Schools, Harnett County Schools and Johnston County Schools to ask if schools within the districts are experiencing any HVAC issues.

WRAL News also asked if each district has any long-term plans in place for HVAC repairs, upgrades or replacement projects moving forward.

Durham Public Schools said it had a long-term plan.

"It's embedded in the district's Capital Improvement Plan," a Durham Public Schools spokesperson wrote. "Our operations department readily responds to calls from principals and schools and dispatches technicians and/or contractors as needed to address issues that arise."

Harnett County Schools said only one of its schools has had an issue, LaFayette Year-Round School. The school had a system malfunction on Wednesday evening.

"Our maintenance team responded immediately," a Harnett County Schools spokesperson wrote. "The necessary part has been ordered, and repairs are actively underway [Thursday]."

The Harnett County spokesperson said the district would continue to monitor the situation.