ORANGE PARK, Fla. — Oakleaf Village Elementary School will be closed Thursday due to a broken A/C as temperatures are expected to hit the 90s across the First Coast.
Superintendent Addison Davis alerted parents through a robocall sent out Wednesday.
The broken A/C stems from a malfunctioning chiller that provides air conditioning to the main building, Davis said via the robocall.
The malfunction happened after a power outage that occurred at the school at around 7 a.m. Davis said the power was restored by 9:40 a.m. and the chillers were still fully functional. However, at 12:45 p.m. one of the chillers went down again causing "uncomfortable conditions in many of the classrooms and common areas."
"I apologize for the inconvenience, but I truly do not believe it will be fair to students or staff to endure high temperatures if we cannot get the system stable by morning," Davis said. "I will update you tomorrow on the status of the conditions as crews work overnight to fix the chiller."
The full robocall can be read below:
This is Superintendent Addison Davis with an important update regarding Oakleaf Village Elementary School. At this time, one of the chillers, which provides air conditioning to the main building, is still not fully functional. Due to the current forecast for temperatures in the mid-90s and a heat index above 100, school will be cancelled tomorrow, Thursday, August 15th. Know that our team has been working diligently to restore all chillers to ensure a comfortable educational environment for students and employees.
As you know, the power went out this morning around 7:00 a.m. Clay Electric, along with our team of engineers, were able to get power restored at 9:40 a.m. At that time, both chillers were fully functional and the school resumed normal operations. At 12:45 p.m., one of the chillers went down again causing the uncomfortable conditions in many of the classrooms and common areas. While other parts of the school maintained air conditioning the rest of the day, it was not at full capacity.
I understand that students and staff experienced uncomfortable conditions during school today due to the two unexpected outages that occurred. Thank you for your patience and understanding as crews continue to work to get the school back to normal.
I'd like to address misinformation that I understand is circulating in our communities on social media platforms and word of mouth. As is often the case, that information is usually incorrect, grossly blown out of proportion, and meant to fuel frustrations. Rest assured that at no time did District staff inform the school's leadership not to communicate with parents. Communication updates were provided at 9:43 a.m and 2:26 p.m. While we recognize that both transmissions were not released to the public as directed, it is always our goal to be transparent with our community, and we will continue to make decisions that are in the best interest of students and staff.
Again, please make preparations as school will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, August 15th. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I truly do not believe it will be fair to students or staff to endure high temperatures if we cannot get the system stable by morning. I will update you tomorrow on the status of the conditions as crews work overnight to fix the chiller.
Thank you for your flexibility and understanding.
