SAN ANTONIO — Nearly 100 students in an after-school program were left without air conditioning at Loma Park Elementary School during a heat advisory.
The program is designed to help students, but on Monday school staff learned a critical lesson when the power was shut off.
Brenda Mancha says that, according to her grandson, the air conditioning was turned-off around 3:15 p.m., when the after-school curriculum began.
Mancha says she received a call from school staff after 4 p.m. on Monday and asked her to pick up her grandson. The school program is scheduled to end at 6 p.m. She says her grandson was in the hot school building for about two hours.
“He takes medication, so that means he cannot be out in the sun (and) he cannot be out in the heat because his nose will start bleeding,” Mancha said. "He said it was very hot and he’s a big boy—he’s 150 pounds.”
There were 96 kids in the cafeteria for the after-school program, according to Edgewood ISD Spokesperson Keyhla Calderon-Lugo.
Calderon-Lugo says the school works with CPS Energy to help conserve power at the school and, as part of the arrangement, the air conditioning is shut off. She says what happened Monday was a mistake.
Edgewood ISD also released a statement:
"Edgewood ISD ensures learning environments are safe and comfortable for students not only during the school day but while students attend programs after-hours as well. A miscommunication regarding the use of the A/C occurred on the first day of an after-school program due to a scheduled CPS curtailment and has since been corrected."
Mancha says she is working to transfer her grandson to another school.
“If you are going to shut it down, make sure nobody is inside the school,” Mancha said.