Winter freeze causing heating issues at Dixmoor schools but students moved to warmer classrooms, officials say

West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147 school officials reassured parents that heating issues at two schools were addressed after complaints of freezing classrooms left parents fuming.

Days prior, Rosa L. Parks Middle School and Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School students complained to their parents they were denied the ability to wear non-school branded clothing such as jackets in cold classrooms.

For Bernice Rocha, parents aren’t properly made aware of what’s happening in schools. That leaves them caught off guard when kids arrive from school, she said. 

“These kids are coming home and they’re sick because they have not been warmed at school. We should have a choice as to when we are going to send them today,” Rocha said. “I don’t want to send my kids if they’re already immunocompromised, and they’re going to be sick.”

District and school officials confirmed heating issues in classrooms, but added they were resolved by the meeting.

“For everybody in this room tonight, the heating issues have been addressed,” board member Hazel Bowman said. “It’s just a matter of time, the winter time, even in our homes, a lot of times nobody knows when your heat is going to go out.”

Students are allowed to wear non-school paraphernalia and are moved to warmer classrooms when temperatures make learning hard, Rosa L. Parks Middle School principal Jacqanai Gipson said that evening.

This isn’t the first time the district’s been criticized for its response to cold classrooms. Last year, WHD SD147 students made the same complaint that they could not wear non-school issued materials in cold classrooms.

Official business

Thornton Township Trustees of Schools will now be required to provide a quarterly invoice to WHD SD147 after the board approved ratifications. The township school treasurer, the governing body responsible for investments of south suburban schools, has struggled to reconcile its books. 

For some districts, that’s translated into problems conducting audits, as was the case for Harvey School District 152. Last fall, boards of serviced schools began appointing officials to represent them and provide oversight, including HSD 152, WHD SD147, and Thornton Township High Schools District 205.

The board also approved a contract with National Catastrophe, Inc. to help replace interior classroom doors. The project was part of a bid, and the company was the lowest bidder, according to the Jan. 13 meeting agenda.