Problem that cut heat at CMS and CareerTech now fixed

CHAMBERSBURG - An issue that led to a chilly Tuesday at Franklin County Career and Technology Center and the Chambersburg Career Magnet School has been fixed. 

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Tammy Stouffer, a spokesperson for Chambersburg Area School District, said the heat at CMS broke around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday due to an issue with the building's gas provider. 

When students arrived at the magnet school the temperature ranged from the high 50s to the low 60s, according to Stouffer.

Jim Duffey, the administrative director for CareerTech, said the temperatures varied in that part of the building, but did not give an estimate. He said CareerTech has a backup heat pump, which can provide electric heat in some areas of the center. 

CMS and CareerTech are connected, and are located on a campus on Loop Road, just south of the borough of Chambersburg, in Guilford Township. 

Stouffer said that there was still some heat in CMS, it just wasn't as warm as normal. She also said there was warm water circulating in the building. 

"If the building had been too cold to have students in, we would've moved them either to the high school or somewhere else, but it wasn't that case," she said. 

Although students are normally not allowed to wear jackets or hoodies in class on either side of the building, both the tech center and the magnet school waived the clothing rules and allowed students to wear these items because of the colder temperatures, Stouffer and Duffey said. Stouffer also said the magnet school kept the doors shut when students were in class to keep the heat in, and Duffey said the tech center moved students in colder areas to other classrooms that were warmer. 

"We didn't have kids freezing or anything on our side," he added. 

Duffey said he was notified by the gas company that repairing the issue would take about two to four hours. Because both sides were already operating on two-hour delay Tuesday, students would only be involved in the situation for a few hours, Duffey said. In addition, only the Chambersburg and Greencastle-Antrim school districts were attending the classes at the tech center that day because the other districts will still on winter break, so CareerTech was not at full capacity.

The heat was eventually repaired and turned back on by 1:30 p.m., according to Duffey.  

Both Stouffer and Duffey said, because the situation was being handled, it was not necessary to send students home. 

"I felt like we didn't have a major issue here," Duffey said. 

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