Heather Curtis
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON (WMAL) – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan slammed the leaders of Baltimore City and County Schools Wednesday as many schools closed or dismissed kids early because they didn’t have air conditioning.

At a Board of Public Works meeting, Hogan accused school leaders of not delivering on promises to fix issues with HVAC systems before the beginning of the last school year.

“It is completely unacceptable that these same two jurisdictions are back in this exact same position again this year,” Hogan said.

The governor added the state has given the school systems money to make sure all schools have functioning ACs, but HVAC issues haven’t been fixed

Comptroller Peter Franchot said he’s been begging the school systems for years to put AC units in classrooms. He added the lack of progress has caused more than 44,000 children to be cheated out of their right to an education over the last two days.

Officials at Baltimore City Schools defended themselves on Twitter saying a state-approved plan is on track. The school system tweets AC was installed in 2016 and 2017 at 12 facilities, and another 12 will get AC this year.

“Clearly we’re not where we want to be or the schools wouldn’t have had to be closed early. I don’t think that the people around the state should be left with the impression that there’s been no progress because there has,” said treasurer Nancy Kopp.

In a letter dated Sept. 4, Cheryl Casciani, chair of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners, wrote in 2017 to 2018 city schools launched a five-year plan to put air conditioning in all school buildings. She said the first schools were large high schools serving thousands of students.

“However, with more than 60 buildings without air-conditioning, the work will take time and is being completed as capital improvement dollars become available,” Casciani said.

Hogan said the board continue to press for answers and action.

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