TAMPA, Fla. — The weather has started to get hotter as summer draws closer, and in some Hillsborough County classrooms, teachers say things are really heating up because their air conditioning units aren’t working.

What You Need To Know

  • Brooke Elkins, founder of the "Adopt a Hillsborough Teacher" Facebook group, is asking parents to reach out to school board members and the superintendent if their child's classroom air conditioning isn't working

  • Elkins says she's received dozens of messages from teachers at 20 different schools reporting problems

  • Hillsborough County school officials say they’ve sent someone to check out any A/C issues that have been reported, but haven’t found any

Now, Hillsborough County mother Brooke Elkins is asking for parents to talk to their kids and see if their classrooms are cool — and if they’re not, she wants them to report it to their school board member and the superintendent.

“What I’m asking parents to do today, when your child comes home, please do me a favor: Ask them, 'What is the air situation in your classroom?'” Elkins said in a selfie video she posted on Facebook in the “Adopt a Hillsborough Teacher” page. 

Elkins started the Facebook group a few years ago as a way to advocate for teachers. Last week, she realized teachers needed some advocating for air conditioning after her daughter came home from school complaining.

“I’m listening to my daughter come in and she said it is like a sauna in (her) first period,” she said. 

Elkins posted on the page to see if this was an isolated issue, but says she received dozens of comments and messages from teachers with the same problem.

“Eighty degrees in my room and I’m arriving at 6:40 a.m., temperature rises as the day goes on, so humid the walls are literally sweating and my computer screens are fogging up,” Elkins said, reading off some of the Facebook messages from teachers.

Others posted pictures of thermostats in their classrooms, one at 80 degrees, and another at 87. Elkins compiled a list of 20 schools with teachers who replied saying they were having A/C issues. 

“This is when we’re end-of-the-year testing, standardized testing, and kids are taking end-of-the-year exams," she said. "How are we supposed to send our kids to do their best on the test if it’s 85 degrees in their classroom? How are you supposed to concentrate in that?”

Elkins said that while some teachers say they have reported the issues to their principals and the district, others have only confided in her. 

“It’s hard as a teacher to be able to speak out and speak out freely,” she said. That is why she says she’s asking for other parents’ help. 

“I’m just viewing this as a mom on Facebook. I started ‘Adopt a Teacher’ because I want to do something good for teachers and I feel like this is part of the advocacy for teachers," she said. "We’ve got to get teachers supplies and what they need, but it’s also their work environment too."

Hillsborough County School officials say they’ve sent someone to check out any A/C issues that have been reported, but haven’t found any.  

In 2018, voters approved a half-cent sales tax to go toward deferred maintenance for Hillsborough County Schools, which includes a plan to replace air conditioning units over the next 10 years.