PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Parents of students at an elementary school in Germantown are heated after they say their kids have been sitting in frigid classrooms since they came back from the winter break.
Syreeta from Germantown says she was livid after her son called her from Fitler Academics Plus Elementary School complaining that he was “freezing cold.” Her main concern, she says, is that parents weren’t informed.
“You gotta let parents know. You can’t just do that to children,” she said. “Some children are not going to speak up, but as a parent, I’m going around there to see what’s going on.”
When Syreeta arrived at the school, she says, kids were wearing coats, hats and gloves inside classrooms to stay warm. She says school leaders told her the boiler was broken but being repaired.
“We send our kids out here warm and dressed for school, but then they go to school and have to keep that on all day,” she said. “I just think that a letter should have gone out, letting us decide whether or not we still want to send our kids to a cold building or not.”
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan says he’s aware of the problem, and of the larger issues regarding the School District of Philadelphia’s aging infrastructure.
“The problem at Fitler has been going on for weeks,” he said. “Although the district has been sending out engineers to repair the problem with the boiler, the boiler is working when they leave and they come back the following day and it’s not working.”
Jordan says the union was told that Fitler’s second floor radiators were heating up, but many classrooms remained chilly.
The district estimates it has a backlog of $4.5 billion in deferred maintenance. The most recent state budget, however, includes $175 million for school facility improvements statewide.
District officials have yet to reply to KYW Newsradio’s request for comment.