Withstanding Weather's Extremes in School Facilities

Excessive heat, hurricane winds and other forces push school districts to fortify their structures in preventative ways

On the southwest side of Houston, the Alief Independent School District is continuing to recover from a lingering drought last summer that attacked the very foundations of the district’s 48 school buildings.

Almost overnight, school facilities experienced differential settlement and cracks along the walls. Tempers warmed with the weather as students struggled with the discomfort of scorching heat and the loss of recess. Only a few days into the semester, students from one middle school were sent home while the district rushed to bring in temporary air conditioning equipment.

Fifty-year-old buildings and their air conditioning systems just couldn’t keep up with the heat. Facility managers started running the units earlier in the morning and even over the weekend just to keep indoor temperatures manageable. Longer term, however, the district’s leadership knew a more permanent fix was needed.

Alief ISD, with an enrollment exceeding 40,000 students, is just one of many school districts across the country currently fighting the ramifications of extreme weather events. In California, wildfires and triple-digit temperatures chip away at students’ time in classrooms, according to CalMatters. Meanwhile, in the Florida Keys, the Monroe County School District is preparing for increasingly catastrophic hurricane seasons.