Arctic Blast Puts Freeze on School Heating Units
This video is no longer available.
JACKSON, Tenn. — School officials say blown fuses and frozen pipes are some of the problems that led to empty halls in the Jackson-Madison County School System, Tuesday. Dr. Brian Ford says the Arctic Blast was too much on heating units at several schools. They have to be installed on an outside wall so they’re susceptible to the outside temperatures,” Ford said. Victoria Murphy’s 15-year-old son is a student here in the city. She enjoys having her son and two nephews at home but the break hasn’t been so great on her wallet. “(I) cut back my work hours so I can be home because they’re big enough but you don’t wanna leave them here because they have to be tended to,” Murphy said. Ford says not all classrooms are without heat, but it’s hard to keep track of every unit in Jackson that’s not working. “We have our maintenance crews working diligently and even overtime in some cases to get our heat back up and going,” Ford said. Murphy believes this is a problem that could have been avoided. “It’s hard on the parents because you have to spend extra money to feed them,” Murphy said. “And as you can see they all come to my home when there’s no school and these are boys and they like to eat,” Murphy said. Ford says there’s no word on when all of the units will be fixed but hopefully the warmer temperatures will ease the problem. Jackson-Madison County schools will be in session Wednesday morning.
