Georgian Hills closed as heating issues continue

A school that serves some of the neediest children in Shelby County remains closed this week following two weeks of heating issues.

Georgian Hills Achievement Elementary is closed and will remain so the rest of the week following a pre-Thanksgiving cold spell wreaked havoc on HVAC systems across schools in the county.

Achievement School District Superintendent Sharon Griffin said Tuesday night that a new boiler had to be ordered from out-of-state for Georgian Hills, and the goal is to install it next week.

The district is reviewing options to locate students elsewhere in the meantime, Griffin said in her email.

But those options are limited due to space and transportation issues, ASD spokesman Robert White said.

Schools in both the ASD and in Shelby County Schools are being considered for possible temporary relocation, White said.

He said the hope is to have students back in Georgian Hills next week. Installation of the new boiler, which is specific to the 1950s-era building, should day about a day and a half, he said.

Students have so far missed a total of eight school days due to the heating issues, White said. The two weeks of no heat overlapped with the Thanksgiving break.

A second ASD school, Frayser-Corning Achievement Elementary, reopened Tuesday after also being out since the Tuesday after Veteran’s Day.

White said that problem was able to be solved with a temporary boiler being moved into the school.

Shelby County Schools owns the buildings used by the ASD and is in charge of major maintenance.

White said the two districts have been working well together to solve the problems at both schools.

“They’ve been working with us after hours, during the holiday break,” White said of the SCS operations team.

At least 10 schools across the county had significant HVAC issues when temperatures dipped below 30 degrees a bit earlier than usual this month.

White said the ASD first realized there was a problem when testing the heating systems before the cold spell, but were unable to resolve the issue before temperatures dropped.