Jenkins High School responds to air conditioning, air quality concerns

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) -Savannah Chatham County School System gave WTOC a behind-the-scenes look at Jenkins High School Friday after parents and faculty raised concerns about air conditioning outages and environmental conditions at the school.

Jenkins High School Principal Marlon Worrill addressed concerns about air quality and room temperatures.

“Well, I can tell you, I have heard as a site administrator, concerns about air quality that has been escalated beyond the site and central office has responded very decisively about making sure that the building was safe to occupy,” Worrill said.

Worrill said classrooms with concerns were moved to cooler areas.

“We were able to move those classes to cooler areas so they can continue learning,” Worrill said.

Worrill said the problems started a week before school began, and since, attendance has remained normal.

“Students have been present. Overwhelmingly, staff has been present. And so overwhelmingly we’ve had school. Even when the temperatures in the rooms were elevated,” Worrill said.

District says HVAC repairs, testing underway

Drevon Jones, executive director of capital programs and maintenance for Savannah-Chatham County School System, said the district has tested the air quality and is continuing to work on fixing the HVAC system.

“I’ve received a lot of those reports and that’s why we went forward with the, with the test even though we didn’t personally see it,” Jones said.

Jones said if air quality tests come back above allowable limits, the district will act.

“If we received reports back that they that we have, that we have tests that came above the allowable limits, then we’ll initiate one of those contracts that we currently have on hand and they will do whatever it takes to clean them out,” Jones said.

Jones said the classrooms in question have been tested for mold and other environmental concerns. Savannah-Chatham County School System said it will provide the test results early next week.