FROM PGCPS WEB PAGE – https://www.pgcps.org/Tuesday, September 1, 2026 – Parkdale High School will close at 10:30am due to a lack of A/C.This comes as Tuesday,s

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (7News) — As Montgomery County students begin the second week of school, educators are sounding the alarm to 7News about sweltering classroom temperatures caused by old, broken HVAC systems in some schools. One Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) teacher, who asked to remain anonymous, said temperatures were consistently above 80, reaching 85, in their classroom on Monday. They stress that it’s not only making it difficult to teach and help students learn, but it’s also putting their health and safety at risk. “They feel tired, they feel dizzy, headaches,” the teacher said. “I’ve told students if they feel any kind of illness or anything, to let me know, bring some hand fans. Let’s drink some extra water, things like that, so I’m just trying to do everything that I can to make sure that kids are not getting sick.” RELATED | Montgomery County schools start new year with budget challengesEven with three fans, as long as the air conditioning is blowing out hot air, they say it’s nearly impossible to keep cool and focus on anything other than the brutal heat. It makes them feel lethargic. It just makes them not ready to learn, and so that’s where behaviors start coming out. Everybody’s cranky.This teacher added that the problem is not limited to their school, adding that colleagues in other buildings — particularly older ones — have reported similar issues across the district.“I do think it should be a priority in the district,” they said. “I know that they’ve been cutting a lot of things. I think this is something that needs to be pushed to the top. We’ve gotten some emails from the district and Superintendent Taylor saying that this is a priority, so I’m just hoping that there’s some follow-through in there.”As of August 21, MCPS was dealing with a maintenance backlog of $3 billion and growing.“We have 211 active schools – 240 facilities – that we manage, and two-thirds of those facilities require a massive renovation of some sort,” Superintendent Thomas Taylor said. “We have 40 HVAC systems that are not functioning the way that they should… Whether it’s electrical, plumbing, or the masonry work, roofs, you name it, we’ve got major systems that need a lot of work.”RELATED | As new school year starts, Montgomery County schools face $3B maintenance backlogThe teacher said that by late afternoon, the class was moved to a different classroom, but they described it as only a temporary fix. With the heat expected to last all week, they said it’ll be a day-by-day plan and problem.

BOWIE, Md. (7News) — As Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) works to stabilize its troubled bus system, some parents say their transportation problems began well before this school year.Lisa Wilson is one of those parents. She provided 7News with documents from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) related to complaints she filed involving her son’s special education services.In an August 2025 letter, state investigators found multiple violations involving her son’s services, including that his Individualized Education Program, or IEP, was not consistently implemented.The state also found violations involving delays in holding an IEP meeting and providing required notices.RELATED | Prince George’s County bus crisis: New investigation raises questionsWilson said her family’s transportation concerns started after she formally made complaints, and have continued as her son was administratively transferred to Pointer Ridge Elementary School in Bowie, about 30 miles from their home in Accokeek.“I was told in no uncertain terms that Blake would not be transported from our residence in Accokeek, Maryland to the school that he was administratively transferred to by an area supervisor in the Bowie area, to Pointer Ridge Elementary,” Wilson said.Her concerns come as PGCPS faces broader questions about its transportation system.The district has acknowledged significant problems at the start of the school year, with roughly 10,000 students initially caught up in a backlog involving bus assignments and routes.Even after the district said every student had been assigned a bus, some parents told 7News Monday morning that problems remained. Parents in Cheverly said at least a dozen students in one neighborhood were still waiting for a bus, while other parents reported waits of more than two and a half hours.The district’s new routing system, Bus Planner, has also come under scrutiny following the troubled rollout. Questions remain about what went wrong and whether an audit could examine how the system was implemented and what changes are needed to prevent similar problems.PGCPS is also undergoing a change in transportation leadership as officials work to stabilize the department.7News has separately obtained documents from an internal PGCPS investigation involving allegations of workplace bullying, discrimination and harassment within the transportation department.PGCPS was asked specifically about Wilson’s concerns. The district said it needs additional information and context regarding the situation and asked Wilson to contact the school system so it can fully address her concerns.The Maryland State Department of Education’s 2025 investigation focused on the implementation of Wilson’s son’s special education services. It found multiple violations by PGCPS but did not make a finding of retaliation involving transportation.

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