As a new school year kicks off in the Montezuma-Cortez School District, students and teachers at Kemper Elementary are facing a sweltering start. With temperatures soaring into the 90s, many classrooms are without functioning air conditioning.
Five out of seven HVAC units in the school are reportedly not working. The district does not yet have a count of how many are not working at Mesa Elementary.
According to the district, a potential lawsuit with the HVAC company called Matthews Electric of Southwest Colorado Inc. prevents the district from repairing nonfunctioning AC units. Superintendent Tom Burris told The Journal that the district has purchased fans and “portable, evaporative coolers in the past,” but noted that Kemper Principal Paulette Porter has not yet received requests for additional fans or portable coolers, despite an email from a staff member’s spouse alleging that staff were being required to buy their own cooling systems for their classroom.
“This was a big project and the district has had a lot of problems with the units,” Burris said. “This project involved Mesa, Kemper and Lewis.”
Burris shared that they are waiting on more information from Matthews Electric before the lawsuit can move along.
“Matthews is working to confirm its insurance carrier will provide a defense to the lawsuit, so we’ve allowed Matthews limited additional time to respond to the district’s complaint,” Burris said. “We can currently expect Matthews’ response to the complaint by Aug. 22. The next step will be talking with the court to establish a trial date, usually nine months to a year out from the date of that conversation (although if the court is available sooner, we can try to push for that). Once a trial date is established, we’ll proceed with the discovery process.”
Burris said the legal process can be “frustratingly slow,” and it seems unlikely that the lawsuit will move quickly enough to fix the AC units this fall.
Matthews Electric, owned by Dean Matthews, was the general contractor for the HVAC project, working with Bishop Brothers. Both are located in Cortez.
