Houston ISD Parents Pay $8,300 for Rental AC Units as Six Campuses Swelter in Triple-Digit Heat

Parents at Horn Elementary School spent more than $8,300 of their own money this week to rent portable air conditioning units after Houston Independent School District failed to fix a broken HVAC system that left classrooms hot through a stretch of triple-digit heat.

The Horn Elementary PTO board held an emergency vote Monday and approved renting 31 district-approved portable AC units for a one-week period, according to an email sent to families. The units were delivered and wheeled into the building as temperatures outside climbed past 100 degrees. Parents said the rental has not solved the problem.

"We're at the mercy of HISD, and HISD will not get the AC fixed," said Lori Williamson, a Horn Elementary parent.

Jessica St. John, another Horn parent, said the AC problems have been ongoing since the first day of classes on August 10. She helped organize the rental push after weeks without a district fix.

"We spent over $8,000, I believe, for one-week rental on those units," St. John said. She said the frustration deepened Tuesday morning when parents picking up kids for doctor's appointments were told the classrooms still weren't cool, even though the rented units had been running.

"Somebody from the district instructed the teachers to turn them off," St. John said.

Parents who contacted television news tip lines said the portable units were not turned on at the start of the school day. Instead, they said, the units ran only in the afternoon and were shut off again once students left campus.

Caroline Cheong, who also has children at Horn, said the disruption goes beyond comfort.

"I think their learning has been incredibly disrupted," Cheong said. "It's very, very hot."

Hung Dang, whose daughter Julia attends Horn, said the timing has compounded the frustration. "It just hasn't been resolved, and it's a bit frustrating, in the middle of a heat wave," he said. Julia said her classroom has relied on fans to manage the heat. "We have a lot of fans," she said.

The problems are not confined to one school. Families and staff have also raised concerns at River Oaks Elementary, Hartman Middle School, Cullen Middle School, Farias Early Childhood Center and Longfellow Elementary.

At Hartman Middle School, parent Christen Aldridge said she was not initially told the building's air conditioning was malfunctioning. When she reached out to the school directly, she said she was redirected to the district instead of getting answers on-site.

"It's awful because these are our children," Aldridge said. "No one has control completely over everything, but you do have control to inform the parents."

Aldridge's daughter, seventh grader Kaiya Stevens, said the heat has made it hard to concentrate in class. "None of us can focus in the heat," she said. Kaiya said she has had two nosebleeds this month that she attributes to the temperatures, and she worries about classmates with health conditions that could make them more vulnerable to heat exposure.

Houston ISD, in a statement, said some of its buildings have aging HVAC systems that require ongoing attention, particularly during stretches of sustained heat. The district said maintenance teams monitor and respond to reported issues, technicians are dispatched as problems come in, and students and staff can be relocated to cooler parts of a building when needed. The district said it may also deploy temporary cooling equipment, including spot coolers, while repairs are made.

Parents say that response has not matched what they're seeing on their own campuses. Cheong said communication from the district has been a recurring problem well beyond the air conditioning itself.

"To be frank, HISD has had a lot of issues, not even talking about AC," Cheong said. "And to add this to it, the communication part of it has been incredibly frustrating for a number of parents."

Williamson said she wants the district to treat the situation with more urgency given the health risks of prolonged heat exposure for children. "It's so warm in there. I feel like it's torturing them," she said. "Fix this immediately."

The rented units at Horn Elementary are covering only a one-week window, according to the PTO's email to families. Houston ISD has not given parents a timeline for when permanent repairs will be completed at any of the affected campuses.