Students across the Northside Independent School District will be riding in comfort when they return to school next week. Nearly every school bus across the area’s largest district has been outfitted with air conditioning.
The retrofitting, which was done with bond dollars, came about after Superintendent John Craft joined the district and heard perennial complaints about the conditions on sweltering school buses in the first weeks of the 2023-24 school year, according to Tesilia Soliz, director of transportation for Northside ISD.
“Immediately, he’s like, let’s come up with a plan and try to get this fixed,” Soliz said. “So we came up with a plan and identified about 75 regular education routes that did not have AC.”
All special needs bus routes already had air conditioning, she said in an Aug. 7 interview, and the only buses without AC are substitute buses that are available in case of mechanical failures.
The district joins others across the city, which have either purchased new buses with cooling systems, or retrofitted older buses to be more comfortable.
East Central ISD, which started school last week, has had buses with AC for the past several years according to district spokesman Brandon Oliver.
The systems aren’t enough to keep the vehicles ice-cold given the high heat and the number of stops, but they add needed comfort and protection, Oliver said.
“If you think about just your car, if you open and close your door … 10 times you’re going to lose some of that cold air, but it’s comfortable” he said. “Having said that, all of our fleet has air conditioning, so that’s good.”
San Antonio ISD also has AC on its buses.
Climate control is an increasing concern for district leaders, advocates and researchers, as climate change leads to record-breaking temperatures.
Last month, the Center for American Progress released a report analyzing the negative impact heat can have on development and learning in educational settings.
According to the report, “heat negatively affects students’ learning by decreasing their attendance, engagement and achievement — particularly for those who lack access to air-conditioned learning environments.”
North East ISD, the second-largest district in the city, also has a full fleet of air-conditioned buses, which have undergone maintenance over the summer along with the district’s HVAC system according to district spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor.
For many parents, HVAC systems are front of mind as students return to school on triple-digit days.
“After our brief summer shutdown, extensive diagnostic programs were run, any necessary repairs were made, and then the HVAC was run for extended hours,” Chancellor said. “Also, to compensate for the higher temperatures the first few weeks of school, systems will run longer so temperatures remain cool, and then we will adjust as needed.”
