COLUMBUS, Ohio — After years of work and demands from educators, Columbus City Schools is almost finished with making good on a promise to install HVAC piping and units in all of its classrooms within school buildings.

What You Need To Know

  • There are 112 school buildings within CCS and more than 60 needed partial or full HVAC work completed 

  • Federal dollars helped the district to pay for the work in the remaining buildings needing work

  • Gymnasiums and auditoriums are slated to be completed as well

Contractors are finishing up an eight-week project at Hubbard Elementary School, which was built in the late 1800s. Columbus City Schools’ Capital Improvement Director Alex Trevino acknowledged that the work for buildings built before the 1950s would be a task.

“There are really unique challenges with buildings like this one, where the walls are insulated, but they're also incredibly thick. It's a different type of construction than what we'd see in most of our newer buildings. But the buildings are also very robust and very sturdy," Trevino said.

CK Construction Project Executive Bob Hart noted because they didn’t know what they’d find behind the walls or in the ceilings, they’d have their work cut out for them. 

The work at Hubbard Elementary has moved quickly, with contractors wrapping up the work in just eight weeks.

“It's going to be much easier for the teachers to teach, for the students to learn, for the staff to be in the building, because, you know, you're basically fundamentally changing the environment that they work and go to school in," Hart said.

Hart said knowing he’s changing people’s lives a little bit is why he loves working on the projects. Even so, Mifflin Middle School is the last school in the district to be fully upgraded.

“We'll see continued incremental progress on that project all the way through next summer and in the fall of 2024, about a year from now, that building will be fully central air-conditioned as well,” Trevino said. 

While that’s being wrapped up, it’s not the end of what the Columbus Education Association has called for in their contract. There’s a call to action on putting HVAC piping and units not just in classrooms, but in all gymnasiums and auditoriums within schools.

That project is underway, but won’t be complete until 2024. Trevino said the hope is that once the HVAC projects are complete, the district can shift its focus to address classroom environment needs.