No heat, but Valley schools go on

Four schools in Central Valley School District had no heat or only partial heat Monday, but by afternoon they were warming up, school officials said.

Students at University High School, North Pines Middle School and Broadway and Opportunity elementary schools were affected. No students were sent home despite outdoor temperatures in the 20s.

“We decided because it was such late notice for the families, we’d go ahead with the school day,” said Melanie Rose, district spokeswoman.

All the heating problems were isolated, Rose said. Space heaters were used to warm up unheated areas.

Opportunity Elementary School’s heat “shut down completely, and that caused some freezing pipes,” Rose said.

A pipe burst, flooding a first-grade classroom at Opportunity. That class was moved to a makeshift classroom for the day, she said.

By Monday afternoon, the district was “down to just a few classes where kids and teachers have coats on, but this morning they all did,” Rose said.