JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Paxon High School food services worker, Alesia Lewis, says she and other food services staff have worked without A/C for months.
Lewis reached out to Action News Jax after she said her attempts to get the A/C fixed through her managers and school board leaders were met with no action. “It’s very uncomfortable. It’s hot. We’re wearing black inside the school. And it’s very uncomfortable to be working in that condition,” Lewis explained.
She says she believes students’ classrooms are without working air conditioning, too.
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“I heard a couple of classes, their rooms are hot. The air conditioning is out,” Lewis told us.
Action News Jax obtained inspection reports that show state inspectors had knowledge of the school’s A/C outage since May.
That report found overall conditions at Paxon unsatisfactory and called for the A/C to be repaired when inspectors visited again in June.
When inspectors returned, they found only the school’s front office to have working A/C, but no proof that the A/C had been repaired in the kitchen, and planned to return when school started.
Duval County Public Schools sent us this statement in response to our questions about the school’s A/C issues:
“We are aware of the intermittent air conditioning issues in Paxon’s kitchen area, where cafeteria staff prepare meals.
“Like many homes, schools in Duval County can experience AC outages. When this happens, our district maintenance teams respond quickly, and most concerns are resolved the same day.
“The situation with the staff kitchen at Paxon has been more challenging. Our maintenance team has tried several approaches, including troubleshooting the controller that regulates the system in that part of the building. While we continue working toward a long-term solution, we’ve placed fans in the kitchen to help provide some comfort for employees.
“Unfortunately, this is a reminder of the reality we’ve shared with our community many times: Duval County has the oldest school buildings in Florida. That’s why we are especially grateful to our voters for approving the half-cent sales tax. Thanks to this support, we’ve been able to complete major renovations at many schools and build at least five new schools in recent years as part of the Master Facilities Plan."
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