Whitman County schools face cold-snap problems

TEKOA — In an email from Wednesday, Jan. 17, Tekoa Principal Yolanda Bone reported that Tekoa School’s heating system experienced some issues during the cold snap, with some classes heating only up to 63 or 69 degrees.

“Some classes are heating up to programmed temperatures,” Bone said in the email, noting that classes with colder temperatures had space heaters running.

Tekoa was not the only school to experience some issues; LaCrosse School Superintendent Doug Curtis said that LaCrosse had some HVAC units on the rooftop with one of them shutting down, “We had some hot water issues,” he said, noting that all of the issues had been fixed.

“The cold is tough on everybody, and the snow we had,” Curtis said, adding that the cold, especially with a power outage, is hard on school systems because they are bigger and have a lot more parts to them. “We don’t look forward when it gets down below zero,” Curtis said.

St. John Superintendent Mark Jacobson said that St. John had some frozen pipes, but they were able to get them thawed out.

Oakesdale was fortunate not to be affected by the cold snap, but Oakesdale Superintendent Jake Dingman said that the HVAC system had been an ongoing issue for the school and had gone down. “We have lucked out with the snap,” Dingman said, noting that an old system must be maintained.

Steptoe Superintendent Eric Patton said that during the snap, Steptoe school checked their boiler daily during the cold to ensure it stayed on and did not trip.

Rosalia Superintendent Brett Baum, and Colfax Principle David Gibb confirmed that Colfax and Rosalia did not have any heating problems during the cold snap. Other schools that did not experience any problems included Colton and Endicott.

Tekoa school could not be reached for further comment on the state of their heating issues at time of press.