Decades-long oversight led to winter heating woes, SAISD says
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San Antonio Independent School District released an after-action report on Monday detailing the errors that led to the January heating failures that resulted in more than 90 schools being closed for two days.
Why it matters: The report creates a clear plan for SAISD to address an issue that left parents scrambling for child care and caused days of lost learning, and aims to improve learning environments for children.
Catch up quick: SAISD superintendent Jaime Aquino called the heating issues a "significant systemwide failure" at the time.
- School officials checked campus heating systems on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when students were off from school, but Aquino said a "human error" was made in not running the boilers 24/7 during the freezing temperatures.
- That led to broken and frozen pipes that caused "major issues."
What they found: An ad hoc committee found that the issues were the result of 20 years' worth of human errors, the report notes.
- The district did not prepare for the weather or develop a crisis management plan when schools started reporting heating problems.
- SAISD also failed to budget for ongoing equipment maintenance.
Between the lines: The committee noted that the underfunding of Texas public schools and the district's aging buildings were underlying causes of the issues.
- The district decided to close 15 schools, a move it says will better serve its students by concentrating resources on fewer campuses as enrollment declines.
- Most of the schools will close at the end of the school year; two more will close in the future.
What's next: The committee's after-action report included a list of conclusions and recommendations.
- The district will evaluate surplus building space to resolve resource disparities by November 2025.
- The district will adopt a policy requiring reliable external data for infrastructure improvements in future bonds and referendums.
- It will also allocate 5% of future bond money for maintenance, including a new computerized maintenance management system.
What they're saying: Trustee Leticia Ozuna, who chaired the ad hoc committee, said in a statement that the November 2023 rightsizing decision will "partially mitigate" the problems outlined in the report.
- "We want our families to feel reassured that the board will push all leaders to do better for our students," she said.