'We always want to move faster': What's the latest on heat and air conditioning projects at Austin ISD

KXAN investigators obtained AISD records showing more than 4,000 work orders filed from the start of the school year until mid-February, related to HVAC issues. Bowie topped the list.

Editor's Note: The video above shows the largest school districts in the KXAN viewing area for the 2023-24 school year.

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Toni Aucutt remembers the text she got from her daughter, a sophomore at Bowie High School, one school day in January.

"She said, 'I can't feel my feet. My feet are so cold I can't feel them,'" Aucutt said.

A few days after students came back to class from the winter break, the temperatures outside dropped to the teens. A spokesperson for Austin ISD confirmed to KXAN some schools were having issues with heat in certain areas of the campus.

Aucutt's daughter, who deals with a medical condition that affects her circulation and is triggered by the cold, told her mom she believed she was in one of the classrooms with heating issues.

"She sent me pictures, and her feet were blue -- which, not all kids have that issue, but she does. She was like, 'I can't sit here and do my work anymore,'" Aucutt said.

At the time, the district spokesperson said the issues were being addressed and accommodations were made "to ensure a safe learning environment" for all students. Aucutt told KXAN the school quickly made additional accommodations for her daughter.

Still, Aucutt said it's not the first -- or the last -- time her daughter has reported these types of issues at Bowie.

KXAN investigators obtained AISD records showing more than 4,000 work orders filed from the start of the school year until mid-February, related to HVAC issues. Bowie topped the list.

"To me, this is non-negotiable," Aucutt said, wondering when families might see a long-term fix.

From 'Band-Aids' to a bond

For the last few school years, KXAN has received similar complaints from parents, teachers and students about heat and air conditioning issues at various campuses. KXAN investigators reported on the several thousand HVAC-related work orders logged each year across the district and how AISD relied on rental equipment -- such as temporary chillers or heaters -- to regulate the temperature inside classrooms while issues are addressed.

Now-superintendent Matias Segura told KXAN in 2022, “We are constantly putting ‘Band-Aids’ on our facilities. That’s not fixing it the way that we truly want to fix it. That’s really just repairing it, so that it can continue on.”

At the time, as Chief of Operations, he explained that the proposed $2.44 billion bond would help the district attain long-term fixes for many schools. By November 2022, voters had passed that bond. It is slated to provide 25 full or partial modernization projects, which will include brand-new HVAC systems. The money also covers hundreds of other targeted projects, such as HVAC upgrades.

So far, Michael Mann, the district's Executive Director of Construction Management, said the district has been focused on work that goes largely "unseen" on campus: procuring designers, vendors, and contractors for these projects.

"The legwork up front, the way we package and do that work up front, can save us time on the back end," he said. "I think we've done a good job of that."

Now, 17 targeted HVAC projects are entering the design phase. Those include two large projects at Bowie and the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, or LASA, but also 15 other campuses:

• Baldwin Elementary School
• Baranoff Elementary School
• Becker Elementary School
• Blackshear Elementary School
• Blanton Elementary School
• Bryker Woods Elementary School
• Casey Elementary School
• Dawson Elementary School
• Jordan Elementary School
• Joslin Elementary School
• Kealing Middle School
• Lively Middle School
• Rodriguez Elementary School
• Widen Elementary School
• Zavala Elementary School

'We always want to move faster'

Mann explained that getting permits for the projects will take time -- as will purchasing and receiving all the necessary parts and equipment. He estimates about 18 months to two years, after identifying an architect or a design team, before projects are delivered -- noting that each of these project has a unique timeline.

Plus, much of the work has to wait until summer to occur.

"We can't shut down a wing of the school or even a classroom. We've got to keep those things up and running and a lot of these projects involve tearing out some walls sometimes -- these larger construction projects -- taking ductwork out of ceilings. You wouldn't want to go disrupt the school day to do that and have to move folks out," he said.

KXAN investigator Avery Travis asked Mann if AISD was moving quickly enough, given the number of HVAC work orders logged each year.

"We always want to move faster. It's never fast enough for the folks that are living through these, day-to-day, right?" he said. "We're looking for new ways to get more efficient and to speed things up, but it's never going to be instant. I wish it was ... But are we doing everything we can and looking at every tool that we've got available? We are doing that -- absolutely."

KXAN also noticed some of the schools with the most HVAC work orders filed this year were not mentioned on the list of schools with planned work, funded by the 2022 bond.

AISD explained some of those schools, such as Small and Bailey Middle Schools, have upcoming projects funded through the 2017 bond. The district said these campuses will also have later projects funded through the 2022 bond.

At Murchison Middle School, HVAC work is underway using the district's maintenance and operations funds.

Meanwhile, Lee Elementary School and Covington Middle School will use interest-earned funds from the 2013 bond -- a process where AISD invests money from a bond for a short time before the project begins, and then uses the interest earned to fund additional projects.