RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Armstrong High School will reopen Wednesday after a broken air conditioner kept students home today.
But even though the students will be back in class, schools officials face some tough decisions going forward as this problem could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Administrators say repairs – and costly ones at that – are needed as well.
Assistant Superintendent Tommy Kranz says the type of unit at Armstrong, which can last anywhere from 15 to 25 years, has outlived its prime. It’s a decrepit 26-years-old.
“It was almost like our body we get up in age and all of a sudden those aches and pains and everything starts to bother us and one thing can lead to another,” Kranz said. “Our worst nightmare and the things that keep me up at night is losing a Richmond Technical Center, or losing a George Wythe, or losing an Armstrong mechanical system, or HVAC system, because they’re not a system I’m just going to get off the shelf.”
The existing unit at Armstrong will be up and running tomorrow with a smaller system, but school leaders have a few options for the immediate future: Replace the parts in the existing unit for a few hundred dollars or get a new one for 1.5 million.
Kranz is in favor of the latter.
“We’re inclined right now to think that the best option in the long term perspective is to fiscally sound with the taxpayers money is to replace the entire system,” Kranz said.
