As the President of our school’s PTA, and as a parent with a daughter who attends this school, I am deeply concerned about the current conditions affecting our students and staff. I speak both as a parent and as a representative of families across our school community when I say: our students and staff deserve better.

Throughout the last few months, children have endured sitting in cold classrooms due to insufficient heating. My daughter has had to wear a jacket during class and certain specials just to stay warm. That is not an equitable or acceptable learning environment.

Although our building has had several heating issues over the last few months, the current heating failure is located in the specials wing; the area used for art, music, PE, and other specials that every single student in the building attends. Despite impacting 100% of the student population, this heating issue was not included on the county’s most recent approved list for repairs.

How can a problem affecting every child in the building not be prioritized?

At the same time, a roofing project is underway during school hours. The noise and disruption echo throughout the building, making it difficult for students to concentrate and teachers to teach. Because the heating problem has not been addressed, students cannot be relocated to empty classrooms in the affected area of the building. These unused spaces could have served as temporary solutions during construction disruptions, but without heat, they are not viable learning environments.

They are stuck between cold classrooms and construction disruption.

Even more concerning, this roofing project is taking place during official testing windows, when students across the county and state are taking standardized assessments under stable conditions. While their peers test in quiet, climate-controlled environments, our students are faced with either navigating noise or temperature challenges.

How is this an equitable experience for our students?

If the heating issue had been resolved prior to the start of construction, students would have at least had a quiet environment in which to learn and test.

Equity means every student deserves the same opportunity to learn and perform in a safe, comfortable, and minimally disruptive environment, especially during high-stakes testing.

We are calling on Wake County Schools to:

• Provide immediate temporary heating solutions.
• Set and publicly communicate a timeline for permanent heating repairs.
• Reevaluate why the specials wing heating issue was excluded from approved repairs.
• Ensure equitable learning and testing conditions for all students across the district.

As PTA President, I advocate for every child in this building.
As a parent, I advocate for my own.

This is not about inconvenience.
This is about fairness.
This is about student well-being.
This is about basic infrastructure being treated as essential, not optional.

Please sign this petition and help us demand immediate, equitable action for our students.