Last year on the first day of school, temperatures in parts of the San Fernando Valley topped a sweltering 100 degrees. And though all classrooms in Los Angeles Unified have air conditioning, many of those systems are several years past their life expectancy.
Now, the district is undertaking massive list of $342 million in bond-funded critical repair projects for heating and air conditioning, or HVAC, systems. Nearly a third of the total, about $107 million, will be spent in the San Fernando Valley, which often sees the hottest temperatures in the Los Angeles area.
We have 30,000 classrooms. All of them are air-conditioned, said Mark Hovatter, the LAUSDs chief facilities executive. Of those 30,000 classrooms, we get a lot of trouble calls.
On a recent weekday morning, Hovatters office already had received 776 calls for service, a third of them in the Valley, and it wasnt yet noon. A typical school day might see 200 such calls, but the number this day was higher as custodians cleaning classrooms in preparation for the start of school checked air-conditioning units. The plan is to check every classroom in the district before school starts, said Angelita Khazei, deputy director of maintenance and operations.
Most of the air conditioning that were getting trouble calls on now are for units that are in excess of 25 years old, when the average life of an air-conditioning system is 20 years, Hovatter said. So were already five, six, seven years beyond the expected useful life for a large number of the air-conditioning units.
The need to upgrade these systems has been growing, and the amount the district spends on overtime work for emergency fixes has been rising, too. In 2015, LAUSD spent about $400,000 on overtime for system repairs by district staff; that rose to $670,000 last year, Hovatter said.
Worse situations are when you have a major system that goes down, and lots of classrooms are out, Hovatter said. That obviously becomes our absolute highest priority. But we just have systems that are old, and they just break down. On hot days, theyve got to run continuously. They dont get a chance to rest, and they just wont hold up.
A resolution passed this month by the school board requires that every classroom has working air conditioning, or that those without are prioritized for work. The highest priority are systems that serve a lot of classrooms or are at elementary schools, Hovatter said, because younger students are more susceptible to the heat.
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Times have changed. In the 1950s, air conditioning wasnt the standard in schools; now it is. Air-conditioned gyms used to be a luxury, Hovatter said. Now the district is working on making sure every district school has a gym that is air-conditioned (though some practice gyms dont have air conditioning). Gyms also are serving as backup classrooms when the AC goes out in regular classrooms on hot days, Hovatter said.
The list of projects is long, stretches across the district and will take time. The two largest projects are at Valley schools: a $17.2 million system at Richard E. Byrd Middle School in Sun Valley and a $12.5 million project at Van Nuys Elementary School, both slated to finish in 2021.
Some schools, like Byrd Middle School, need a complete new system. The last projects are expected to wrap up in 2022, but about three-fourths of the 67 schools on the list for repairs and new systems are scheduled to have the work done by the end of 2020. Projects at a dozen district schools have been completed, and projects at 26 schools are under construction now.
At Nestle Elementary School in Tarzana this week, Senior HVAC fitter Albert Del Toro and HVAC fitter William Van Lohn with the districts maintenance and operations division were making the final checks on a new system theyd recently installed in one of the classrooms. Del Toro closed the classroom door that led outside, and the temperature displayed on the thermostat steadily dropped.
We just have so much work going on right now, Del Toro said. Theres tons of units that were replacing.
Del Toro pointed up at the ceiling. This used to have ductwork that ran across. Its an eyesore, he said. Removing all that hardware had made the room more spacious and brighter. The new systems are much quieter and turn on with motion detectors rather than timers, he said, saving energy.
At Nestle, about 25 to 30 classrooms, plus other spaces like the library and offices, are set to get new HVAC units. Its a big project, and though some classrooms will be upgraded in time for the coming school year, the entire $3 million project wont be done until summer of 2020, according to the districts plans.
Air conditioning is one of our highest priorities, Hovatter said. Its not just unpleasant. Its, I cant teach today because I dont have air conditioning.
This story has been corrected to reflect that LAUSD has 30,000 classrooms, not 33,000 as the district had previously stated.
Original post:
As heat bakes Valley, LAUSD classrooms will cool off with $107M in upgrades - LA Daily News
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