Georgia · DeKalb County · Schools

Beacon Hill Middle School Goes Virtual After HVAC Failure in Decatur, GA: Classrooms Reached the 90s

Decatur hit 97 degrees on Monday and teachers reported classrooms in the 90s. The text telling families to stay home landed at about 7:40 a.m. Tuesday, roughly an hour before the first bell.

By Nathan Saunders Published Aug. 18, 12:30 p.m. 6 min read Schools

What happened at Beacon Hill Middle School?

Students at Beacon Hill Middle School in Decatur were told to stay home and log on instead on Tuesday, Aug. 18, after HVAC problems inside the building, Decaturish reported.

The trigger was the day before. Teachers and parents told Decaturish that classroom temperatures inside the school reached the 90s on Monday, Aug. 17.

The district gave one cause with two links in it. In its letter to families, City Schools of Decatur said "intense weather conditions" had placed additional strain on the HVAC units, and that the strain led to outages in certain areas of the building and to extreme indoor temperatures.

Weather and mechanical failure are not competing explanations in that account. The district's own wording runs from the heat to the equipment to the classrooms, in that order, and both the heat framing and the HVAC framing that appear in coverage of the closure trace back to the same sentence in that letter.

No official temperature reading taken inside a Beacon Hill classroom has been released. The figures reported so far come from the people who were in the building.

When did families find out?

The notice went out the morning of the virtual day, not the night before.

A text message reached parents and students at about 7:40 a.m., Decaturish reported, with an email following shortly before 8 a.m. First bell at Beacon Hill is 8:45 a.m.

That left roughly an hour between the first message and the first bell, on a morning when buses were already running their routes.

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What did the letter to families say?

The district framed the move as a precaution taken while repairs are made.

"City Schools of Decatur is monitoring the weather conditions as we continue to experience high temperatures across the state," the letter said, according to Decaturish. "The intense weather conditions have placed additional strain on the HVAC units, leading to outages in certain areas of the building and extreme indoor temperatures."

The letter said the school would move to virtual learning for the day while the system was being repaired, and that instructional details would follow in a separate message. It did not name the areas of the building that lost cooling, and it did not say how many classrooms were affected.

The letter also acknowledged the disruption to families, saying student and staff safety was the district's first concern.

How hot was it in Decatur on Monday?

Decatur reached a high of 97 degrees on Monday, Aug. 17, Decaturish reported.

Federal weather data matches that figure. Hourly observations published by the National Weather Service at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Chamblee, about seven miles north of Decatur, peaked at 97 degrees at 4:53 p.m. on Monday.

That is the outdoor number. It is the strain the letter points to, and it is the only temperature in this story that has an instrument reading behind it.

What did parents say about conditions inside the building?

One parent had already gone to the district before the virtual day was called.

Angie Deokar, whose daughter attends Beacon Hill Middle, told Decaturish she contacted district leaders, including the school board, over Monday's conditions. Her daughter had mentioned the building had been hot "for a while," Deokar said, and by Monday it had become hard to concentrate.

"I was hearing reports from teachers and others who are in the building that some of the classrooms were in the 90s and I just thought that is not a learning environment," Deokar told Decaturish. "That's a problem that needs to be fixed."

Deokar said she had also heard that box fans were being distributed inside the school, but that there were not enough to reach every classroom.

She raised a second problem the district's letter did not mention: many of the school's water fountains were not working on Monday, which she described as very concerning.

Deokar was one of a number of parents who aired concerns on social media and in emails, Decaturish reported.

Is the building open, and are buses running?

Yes to both. The virtual day is a change to instruction, not a shutdown of the campus.

The letter told families that buses would run on schedule, that bag lunches would be available for pickup, and that the building would stay open for students who need to report to school, Decaturish reported.

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How long will the repair take?

Nobody has said. Decaturish reported that there is no clarity on how long the HVAC work will take, and that nothing has been announced beyond Tuesday.

That leaves Wednesday unsettled as of publication. The letter covers one day only.

Decaturish also reported that it asked City Schools of Decatur about the district's maintenance schedule for the summer months, when students are out of the buildings, and that the district did not immediately respond.

What did the school board hear about staffing on Aug. 11?

Deokar told Decaturish she hopes teachers get support from district leadership. Beacon Hill has been losing them.

An August report delivered at the Aug. 11 school board meeting recorded 21 Beacon Hill Middle teachers departing this school year, Decaturish reported.

City Schools of Decatur employs more than 443 teachers across the district, according to the district's own description of itself, alongside a total staff of over 900 full- and part-time employees.

What else has gone wrong in City Schools of Decatur this month?

This is the third building problem to surface in the district since students came back.

An elevator at Decatur High School failed at the start of the school year, and replacing it could take months, Decaturish reported on Aug. 14. A test found a hydraulic fluid leak in the jack and cylinder, buried under a floor slab, which would require full replacement or modernization.

Jarvis Adams, the district's chief operations officer, told the Aug. 11 board meeting that a repair would still leak into the ground below and was therefore not an option. Decatur High Principal Duane Sprull wrote to families that four of the building's hallways had no other Americans With Disabilities Act access, and administrators have moved some classrooms and services while the district weighs an interim platform lift against a permanent fix.

Separately, College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center temporarily relocated a pre-K class on Monday, Aug. 17, over concerns about potential mold exposure, Decaturish reported. A district spokesperson said the class was moved so learning would not be interrupted during a professional air-quality assessment, and said there were no confirmed cases of students made sick by mold. An environmental engineer assessed the site over the weekend, the spokesperson said.

What has the district been spending on HVAC work?

Board records from the spring show where the district's mechanical money was going before this school year started.

At its April meeting, the board took up an extension of its contract with MSI Mechanical Services, Inc. for HVAC services, raising the spending limit to $1 million, Decaturish reported on April 13. The district had spent $486,918 under that contract during the fiscal year on HVAC unit replacements at the Wilson Center and at College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center.

The summer plan described at that meeting covered 24 HVAC units across four elementary schools — Glennwood, Winnona Park, Westchester and Oakhurst — at a total of $377,542. The Beacon Hill item on that same agenda was a different job: a fire alarm system replacement at Beacon Hill Middle and Glennwood Elementary for $300,874.

What HVAC work, if any, was carried out at Beacon Hill over the summer has not been stated.

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What is Beacon Hill Middle School?

Beacon Hill Middle School is the only middle school in City Schools of Decatur. It describes itself as an IB World School serving approximately 1,300 students, about five miles east of Atlanta.

The district it belongs to is small and self-contained: four neighborhood elementary campuses, a single middle school, one high school, an early childhood center and a virtual academy. Decatur sits inside DeKalb County but runs its own school system, separate from the DeKalb County School District.

That structure is why a single mechanical failure at Beacon Hill affects every public middle schooler in the city at once. There is no second middle school to absorb them.

What we don't know yet

Frequently asked questions

Why is Beacon Hill Middle School virtual on Aug. 18?
Because of HVAC outages inside the building. City Schools of Decatur told families that sustained high temperatures had put extra strain on the HVAC units, knocking out cooling in some areas and driving indoor temperatures up, and that the school would move to virtual learning as a precaution while the system is repaired.

How hot did the classrooms get?
Teachers and parents told Decaturish that classroom temperatures reached the 90s on Monday, Aug. 17. No official reading taken inside the building has been released.

How hot was it outside in Decatur on Monday?
Decaturish reported a high of 97 in Decatur on Monday, Aug. 17. National Weather Service observations from DeKalb-Peachtree Airport in Chamblee, about seven miles north of Decatur, show a peak of 97 degrees at 4:53 p.m. that day.

When were families told about the virtual day?
A text message went out at about 7:40 a.m. on Tuesday, with an email following shortly before 8 a.m. First bell at Beacon Hill is 8:45 a.m.

Is the school building open on Tuesday?
Yes. The letter to families said the building would be open for students who need to report to school, that bag lunches would be available for pickup, and that buses would run on schedule.

How long will the HVAC repairs take?
That has not been stated. Decaturish reported that it is unclear how long the repairs will take and that no timeline beyond Tuesday has been released.

Who is Angie Deokar?
A Beacon Hill Middle parent who contacted district leaders, including the school board, about Monday's conditions. She told Decaturish she had heard from teachers and others inside the building that some classrooms were in the 90s.

Were the water fountains working?
Deokar told Decaturish that many of the school's water fountains were also out of service on Monday, which she called very concerning. The district's letter to families did not mention the fountains.

Were fans brought into the classrooms?
Deokar told Decaturish she had heard box fans were being handed out, but that there were not enough of them for every classroom. The district has not addressed the fans publicly.

Has anything else gone wrong in City Schools of Decatur this month?
Two other building problems have surfaced since students returned. An elevator at Decatur High School failed at the start of the school year and may take months to replace, and College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center moved a pre-K class on Aug. 17 while an air-quality assessment was carried out.

How many teachers have left Beacon Hill Middle School this year?
Twenty-one, according to an August report presented at the Aug. 11 school board meeting and reported by Decaturish.

How many students attend Beacon Hill Middle School?
About 1,300. The school describes itself as an IB World School and is the only middle school in City Schools of Decatur.

Has the district explained its summer maintenance schedule?
Not yet. Decaturish reported that it asked City Schools of Decatur about the maintenance schedule for the summer months while students are out of school, and that the district did not immediately respond.