CORPUS CHRISTI — At Hamlin Middle School, parents are complaining of electrical shorts and the air conditioning being out.
One parent sent Action 10 News a photo of students who were moved to the library because their classroom's AC went out. That parent said some of the AC's have been malfunctioning since one unit caught fire on campus last week.
Hamlin's Principal Bridget Lamoureux spoke with a Action 10 News reporter about this situation.
"We have not had any electrical shorts. We have unfortunately since the fire had 6 units not functioning to capacity or not out," Lamoureux said.
Hamlin Middle School dates back to the mid 1950's so it's one of the last open campuses in Corpus Christi. Lamoureux said it comes with its challenges.
"Some of it is very solid built but we don't have AC's in the hallways. The floors get slippery if its humid outside and when it rains the students have to walk outside," Lamoureux said.
So, when an AC unit is not functioning properly, school administrators relocate students to an air conditioned room and fixes the problem as quickly as possible.
"Each time we've had an issue with an AC whether it was broken or not working at full capacity, we put in a work order and the maintenance team responds to take care of it," Lamoureux said.
She said for now they're depending on the maintenance team. It can take a day or two to fix a unit, or longer if they need to order a part.
"Our long term fix is the portables and the new school," Lamoureux said.
CCISD will break ground on the new Hamlin Middle School in October and will be open by the 2025-2026 school year.
For now, Hamlin Middle School hopes to have the last two AC units fixed by Monday so students can return to their classrooms comfortably.
