The fight to get heating and air-conditioning to work in Baltimore schools has taken a turn

For years Baltimore City Public Schools have struggled with breakdowns in heating and air-conditioning in their brand new and renovated schools.

Schools were closed for days when HVAC failed. Pipes froze and burst last winter at Arlington Elementary, even as the Maryland Stadium Authority, which oversaw construction of the schools, and city school officials argued over a path forward.

Last week, Maryland Stadium Authority officials agreed to work more collaboratively with the school system, which is responsible for maintenance of the schools after they are built. The turnaround came just two weeks after authority officials told The Banner that they couldn’t come to an agreement with the city schools over how to proceed with independent studies to determine what causes the problems.

The agreement comes as heating and air-conditioning systems have broken down in about two dozen city schools the Maryland Stadium Authority built or renovated.

The battle over what is wrong and who is to blame for the problems with temperamental HVAC systems isn’t just another inter-agency squabble. Fixing the problems could potentially reach $100 million and be tied up for years in litigation.

“Things are moving in a much more positive and collaborative way,” said Gary McGuigan, executive vice president of the Maryland Stadium Authority.

McGuigan said the two sides are very close to signing a memorandum of understanding on studies that look at the issue. The two sides also agreed to meet more often to try to prevent schools from closing down when it gets too hot or cold.

At least a dozen city schools have had to close for a day or more because heating and air-conditioning systems have broken down, and the school system has spent millions on repairing those systems even though they are virtually brand new.

The city schools had attempted for years to get the Maryland Stadium Authority to resolve the issues, which they said started soon after renovations or brand new schools were turned over to them.

Maryland Stadium Authority leaders have said poor maintenance of the systems by city schools could have resulted in the problems, but the city schools say studies by independent contractors showed that improper installation is the issue.

$1 Billion to renovate schools

Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems were installed under the 21st Century School Buildings Program, a $1 billion effort to modernize aging facilities that began in 2013 under the direction of the Stadium Authority.

At the time legislators did not trust city schools to manage the renovations and rebuilding of two dozen schools, so they handed over the job to the Stadium Authority, a quasi-public corporation set up by the Maryland General Assembly in 1986 to build Oriole Park at Camden Yards. It has since overseen many construction projects.

The authority decided to install the VRF systems because they are more energy efficient, but city schools said that soon after the schools were completed, problems started. They have now spent about $2 million a year repairing the systems.

McGuigan said his organization wants to do a holistic look at the systems “because we we don’t have all the information today as to what could be causing it.”

McGuigan said it is either a design, construction or maintenance issue.

Lynette Washington, the city schools’ chief operating officer, said 25 of the 27 schools built or renovated by the Maryland Stadium Authority so far have had difficulties.

“Our investigations lead us to believe that the problems in the VRF schools are primarily caused by improper installation during construction. The poor installation has caused the units to fail,” she said.

Seeking a solution

Over several years, the city schools have tried to prove they are not at fault for the failures — including hiring independent contractors to do 13 studies — to get the Maryland Stadium Authority to resolve the issue.

Washington said the school system has asked the Stadium Authority to pay for the repairs and legally pursue contractors who installed the systems.

City school officials say they don’t have the legal power to go back to the AC manufacturers or the contractors because the Stadium Authority, not the school system, contracted with the companies.

While they argued, problems persisted. During two different heat waves in the last month of school this year, 11 city schools had to close for part or all of the day because it was so hot, said Alison Perkins Cohen, chief of staff for the school system under former CEO Sonja Santelises. Nine were newly built or renovated schools with problematic cooling systems.

And Arlington had to close during last winter’s cold snap when the heat stopped working in part of the building and pipes burst.

Now, city schools are considering putting a temporary school building next to Arlington to move students rather than close the school when the system malfunctions.

Replacing the system at Arlington, as one engineering firm recommended, could cost as much as $12 million.

Two weeks ago, McGuigan said the city schools has failed to give them the maintenance records they need. City schools denied that.

But last week, McGuigan said that the chairman of the Stadium Authority and the CEO of the city schools met and agreed to “a path forward.”

He said that the city provided more maintenance records and that the authority agreed to meet every other week “to talk about the schools that aren’t performing the best” and see if there are temporary solutions to keep schools open.

“City schools has been dealing with this mostly by themselves. We have agreed even if the schools are six or seven years old we want to be part of the solution. We are trying to limit the closing of the schools,” McGuigan said.

Legislature requires 2026 studies

Tucked inside the state budget this year is $150,000 for a study on four of the schools, including Arlington, that must be completed by the end of the year. There’s also $9.8 million for upgrades to HVAC systems in the city.

If the study is completed and concludes that the problem is a design or construction issue rather school maintenance, McGuigan and Eric Johnson, senior vice president of the Maryland Stadium Authority, said that “there’s contractural avenues we can pursue at that point.”

But they acknowledged that the process could become a protracted legal process that could mean no immediate fixes for schools.

McQuigan and Johnson said the authority doesn’t have the money to fix the HVAC issues, so any fast solution would need state or city funding.

“The state Stadium Authority can only spend the monies authorized by the legislature, and all that money is gone or has been spoken for, and there’s no other legal sources of funds the Stadium Authority can use,” McQuigan said.

There is also the possibility that some modest changes could be made rather than replacing the systems, they said.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.