School #28 Students Lack Heat Inside Classrooms

Cold classrooms have greeted some Rochester students. In fact, the kids have been wearing coats and gloves in class.

For several weeks now, some students at School # 28 have had to bundle up inside the classroom on cold days, wearing coats, hats and gloves. The Rochester City School District says a clogged boiler line is to blame. It has affected eight classrooms of Kindergarten to fifth-graders. District Operations Chief Mike Schmidt says he just found out.

"As the temperatures fluctuate you try something and it's either going to work or it doesn't and until now we thought some of the things we had put in place were working but in last 24 hours," Schmidt said.

Schmidt says the coldest room in the school was at 64 degrees which is three to five degrees lower than the district's standards. He says the cold snap has worsened the school's heating troubles. School Board member Van White says the problem should not have lasted this long.

"This is not the kind of environment you want any child to be educated in and you would hope that the adults that are also affected by this would do everything to change this and this doesn't work for an extended period of time," White said.

As of now, the district is keeping the heat on at 72 degrees 24 hours a day and adding two space heaters in the cold classrooms. Crews will also work all weekend to try to clean the lines.