JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) -- Minor High School parent Bianca Young said her daughter was picked up from school early Tuesday as a result of cold temperatures inside.
"She just keeps saying like, 'Oh my God, it was so cold at school' and 'Oh my God, they didn't have heat,'" Young said. "They were telling them to take off their hoods, like it's cold. They don't have a way to keep warm."
Young said her daughter sent her a text while at school Tuesday stating one of her classrooms was unusually colder than normal. At first, Young said she wasn't too alarmed.
"I was like, 'Yeah maybe it was just that classroom,'" Young said. "But once I got on social media, and I see all the posts, then I called the school. I spoke with an office administrator, and she told me that 'Oh really. Well, it is some heat in here because it's hot in the office,' and I said, 'Well, no because it's multiple kids sending their parents screenshots of posters that the teachers had put up just so they know that it's cold inside of the building.'"
As a result, Young said she is disappointed in the lack of communication from the school system regarding the issue.
"To me, this matter is very serious," Young said. "Kids can get sick. You have kids with autoimmune diseases that can't stand to be that cold you, but they didn't communicate, and that was my whole issue. That was my issue. Machines malfunction all the time. Stuff breaks. But it was not communicated with the parents, and it is one of the coldest days of this year, and we were not notified."
"Minor High School experienced some heating issues today," said Jefferson County Schools Director of Communications John Huddleston in a statement. "The school had one unit break, and it was repaired within an hour and is functioning properly. The school recently had new windows not properly installed and heat was escaping."
Huddleston noted the repair team on site told him the school was not extremely cold like it was outside. Temperatures inside the affected areas were typically in the mid 60s.