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Some Wake County schools are telling families they can check their children out early due to extreme heat, overworked and in some cases failing air conditioning systems.
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The Wake County school system says no schools have closed yet this school year due to issues with HVAC systems, a departure from past school years. But amid this week’s triple-digit heat, some Wake schools with balky HVAC systems are telling families about the option to have their children leave early.
“At any point there’s a safety issue in terms of students being in a building that’s too hot, then we close schools,” Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor told reporters Tuesday. “But we also recognize that parents have the option to pick up their children anytime they feel that temperatures may be beyond what is right for their children.”
In neighboring Durham, Hillside High School sent students home early on Wednesday when its HVAC system broke, The News & Observer reported.
Wake didn’t have a count of how many schools have sent notices about parents voluntarily pulling their children early due to the heat. But the letter sent Wednesday from Wildwood Forest Elementary in Raleigh highlights the issues some schools face.
Wildwood Forest is having issues with its chillers that are leading to higher than normal temperatures in classrooms.
“While we intend to continue our regular schedule of teaching and learning, you may choose to come pick up your student early if they are experiencing discomfort due to these conditions,” Trinity Kelly, Wildwood Forest’s principal, said in Wednesday’s letter.
Some families at Lynn Road Elementary School in Raleigh took their concerns about the HVAC system to the school board on Tuesday. The parents said the hot classroom temperatures are making some children ill.
“My daughter is in school now and a lot of kids are in school now feeling very sick,” Lindsey Pitman, a Lynn Road parent, told the board.
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Jeffrey Yini, a Lynn Road parent, asked board members at what temperature do students stop going to school.
“Right now it’s 83, 78 and 85 in different rooms in Lynn Road Elementary School and our kids are going to school,” Yini told the board. “We have a decision to make. When do we start pulling our kids out of school?”
HVAC issues have been a problem in Wake for several years.
Last year, Wake said more than a third of the district’s schools had lost at least one instructional day since 2023 due to HVAC issues. Wake has blamed the problems on a variety of issues, from not addressing deferred maintenance to not having enough staff to maintain HVAC systems.
But Taylor said at Tuesday’s school board meeting that they’ve worked to clear the HVAC backlog. He said they’re down to 31 critical work orders.
Overall, Taylor said they’re only having HVAC issues at nine schools, which he said represents 4% of district schools. Even in those nine schools, Taylor said, the problems are with individual classrooms and not the entire campus.
School leaders said they can help address the HVAC issues if voters approve a $680 million school construction bond referendum that will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.
“We have a tremendous amount of deferred maintenance needs,” Taylor said. “We’ve shared with our public what we will use bond funds for, and that is addressing those facility needs. Deferred maintenance issues will be a big part of this bond.”
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This story was originally published September 2, 2026 at 4:42 PM.