Monday is a big day for thousands of families across the Triangle, and students are heading back to the classroom to get the new year started. That includes in the state's largest school district -- Wake County.
While Monday will be an exciting day for plenty of families, some parents are worried about hot classrooms. Wake County hosted its annual back to school open house events recently, and afterward WRAL received multiple reports of hot temperatures inside classrooms.
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This reports come after more than one-third of Wake’s 200 schools had a documented heating or air conditioning maintenance issue at the time of their most recent health inspection, a WRAL News investigation has found.
That includes schools such as Banks Road Elementary, Enloe Magnet High School, Banks Road Elementary, Millbrook High School and South Garner High School.
►WRAL analysis: Inspections find HVAC concerns at 1 in 3 Wake schools
Wake superintendent addresses HVAC issues
Superintendent Robert Taylor said the district has addressed most of the issues listed in those documents. The district also has a new facilities director, Veronica Hill.
Taylor answered questions about how the district plans to address ongoing maintenance issues during an interview on Monday at 6:45 a.m. He said the school system has roughly 4,700 pieces of HVAC equipment that have to be maintained, saying school maintenance crews try to address any issues as soon as possible to avoid school day disruptions.
"I would just ask parents to be patient, to recognize what they see as major issues are actually not a major issues. When I say that less than 5% of schools have closed because due to this, I think we have a really, really good record in light of all the situations that may appear to be coming up," Taylor said.
Taylor said the district often uses contractors, so getting repairs done often depends on availability of staff and parts for the repairs.
Durant Road Elementary PTA President Taryn Murray said teachers have started taking their own measures to keep their classrooms cool.
"We’ve had teachers purchase their own window units, move their kids to a different room," Murray said.
Durant Road Elementary’s most recent health inspection, conducted Sept. 18, 2025, didn’t note HVAC issues on that day, which featured a low of about 59 degrees and a high of 85 degrees. The school was instead mostly faulted for numerous plumbing issues and roof and ceiling leaks.
Parents have also had a hand in finding solutions for hot classrooms, according to Enloe Magnet High School PTSA President Rebecca Sweden. The high school was so hot last summer that volunteers held a drive for more fans to cool the place down.
"The classrooms were hot last summer we took up a drive for fan. You wish you didn’t have to ask for that," Sweden said.
During Enloe’s most recent health inspection, which was conducted on Feb. 14, 2025, inspectors noted the HVAC system wasn’t functional in rooms along two hallways, as well as another classroom, the dance studio and a copy room. The high temperature in Raleigh that day was 48 degrees Fahrenheit, with a low of 39.
When asked about the measures teachers and parents said they were taking, Taylor said he would discourage them from installing A/C units without talking to maintenance staff due to the possibility of electrical issues.
"I would say that anything we can do collectively to make conditions better in school... I would certainly tell a person not to do that," he said.
HVAC problems on extreme-temperature days have led to early dismissals at dozens of schools across the county in recent years. District leaders say HVAC repairs account for one-quarter of the $800 million backlog in maintenance that the district is struggling to address.
WRAL asked the district about each of these outages reported by viewers. In each confirmed instance, a spokesperson said on Friday, repairs are ongoing or complete.
Bus staffing catch-up
The Wake County Public School System was slightly behind last year in hiring bus drivers, district data showed, but the district is not sounding the alarm about having routes covered.
As of earlier this month, the district was behind by just 15 yellow school bus drivers, about 2.7% behind this time last year. It has 533 drivers so far, compared to 548 drivers last year. A total of 56 potential candidates were also registered for a training class that happened earlier this month.
Superintendent Taylor said all of Wake County's bus routes are currently "covered" as they work to close the gap. He said the district has done a good job with recruiting and retaining drivers.
Davis said a big challenge facing the school bus system at large is the number of drivers seeking their commercial driver's license for private sector work. He said more drivers are seeking those opportunities to be paid more, which leads to high turnover for schools.
However, he said Wake schools are in a good position, currently.
"We're really satisfied with where we are in terms of the numbers that we have versus bus shortages across this state and across the nation, so we're doing good work," he said.