Update, 4:16 p.m.: Cibola families have been informed school will be opening for in-person instruction as regularly scheduled tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 5. Repairs were completed, and the air conditioning has worked as expected throughout the afternoon on Tuesday.
Cibola High School students have joined Kofa in attending their first day of school from home.
At 7:15 a.m., the school announced it would be closed Tuesday, Aug. 4, due to an unexpected air conditioning system failure.
Students who walked to school or arrived on their own were permitted to leave campus while bus riders were picked up at 9:15 a.m. and transported back home. No-cost breakfasts were served throughout the morning, too.
Once back home, students were expected to attend class virtually using the Canvas Learning Management System. Whether they’ll head to school in person Wednesday, however, won’t be known until 6 p.m. Tuesday. The announcement stated families can expect an update on ParentSquare.
Cibola is the second Yuma Union High School District campus affected by an air-conditioning failure as the school year begins.
On Thursday, July 30, Kofa High School families received a ParentSquare notification that students would attend their first day of classes online while the district installed a temporary chiller.
A Facebook post from Kofa shows they’ve had some air conditioning issues since at least June 15, when its offices were moved to another part of the school.
YUHSD’s communications with KAWC also indicate that they’ve spent some time coming to a solution with the Arizona School Facilities Division. With aid from SFD, Kofa is installing a temporary chiller while a permanent replacement is installed, a process expected to take several months.
But Cibola’s situation is different. The school described its system failure as unexpected, and YUHSD’s chief communications officer, Eric Patten, stated the problems at the two schools are not related.
“This occurring simultaneously on the first day of school is unfortunate timing,” he said. “Living in the southwest means being mindful of extreme heat and prioritizing the safety of our students and staff above all else, whether that’s in preventive maintenance or making decisions to remote learning.”
The failures come amid a period of extreme heat in Yuma. The city recorded daily highs of 113, 114 and 116 degrees in recent days, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Air-conditioning issues have disrupted classes elsewhere in Yuma this year. Castle Dome Middle School temporarily closed in March when the chiller wasn’t working at full capacity, ahead of unseasonably high temperatures.
In that case, Yuma School District One governing board member David Ibarra linked the issue to funding. The district had submitted purchase orders seeking state funding to replace its chillers and cooling towers, but the repair projects had been repeatedly rejected. The equipment was nearly 30 years old, Ibarra said at the time.
In the case of Cibola and Kofa, however, YUHSD has not indicated that the same circumstances apply and has not provided enough information to determine whether the failures were unavoidable, related to aging equipment or deferred maintenance, or affected by funding constraints.
Asked for additional details, Patten said a vendor was working to resolve the Cibola failure in time for classes Wednesday but did not specify what equipment was being repaired or what the work involved. He confirmed that the repair does not require a temporary chiller and does not involve the Arizona School Facilities Division.
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Reporting for this article is supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation.
