Rio Rancho schools left in the cold

NEWS FOUR. A CHILLY DAY OUTSIDE -- AND FOR SOME RIO RANCHO STUDENTS IT WAS ALMOST AS COLD I...  More »

NEWS FOUR. A CHILLY DAY OUTSIDE -- AND FOR SOME RIO RANCHO STUDENTS IT WAS ALMOST AS COLD INSIDE. EIGHT RIO RANCHO SCHOOLS HAD NO HEAT TODAY AFTER A PROBLEM WITH THE COMPUTER SOFTWARE THAT REGULATES THE TEMPERATURE. VALERIE CASTRO IS HERE WITH THE DETAILS. THE TEMPERATURE GOT DOWN INTO THE FIFTIES AT MANY OF THE SCHOOLS THAT WERE LEFT TO SIT WITH NO HEAT FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND BUT NO ONE NOTICED THE PROBLEM UNTIL THIS MORNING. 'It was 60 degrees in our classroom.' JEREMIAH LICON WAS ONE OF MANY RIO RANCHO STUDENTS THAT WENT HOME EARLY TODAY AFTER THE COMPUTER PROGRAM THAT CONTROLS THE TEMPERATURE AT SEVERAL ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN THE DISTRICT QUIT WORKING. 'They told us that the heating system was down this morning, the rooms were like 56 degrees and it was extremely cold, yeah he actually said it was really cold.''So cold.'TWO NEW SCHOOLS WERE ADDED TO THE COMPUTER MONITORED HEATING PROGRAM ON FRIDAY NIGHT BUT THE SYSTEM FAILED LEAVING 8 OTHER SCHOOLS WITH NO HEAT OVER THE WEEKEND -- NO ONE NOTICED UNTIL THIS MORNING. 'We have reports this morning, obviously the temperature this weekend with the units down the buildings cooled off and we were getting ambient temperature.' BY LATE AFTERNOON, 3 SCHOOLS WERE HEATING BACK UP BUT SCHOOLS OFFICIALS AREN'T SURE IF THE REST WILL BE BACK ONLINE BY TOMORROW. 'They didn't let us know and they said they would be giving us a call but they said the whole heating system went down.' SOME OF THE SCHOOLS THAT WERE ONLY PARTIALLY AFFECTED WERE USING SPACE HEATERS TO KEEP STUDENTS WARM. AT LAST CHECK EVERYTHING WAS BACK TO NORMAL EXCEPT FOR AT MAGGIE CORDOVA ELEMENTARY, PUESTA DEL SOL MIDDLE SCHOOL AND PARTS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ELEMENTARY AND COLINAS DEL NORTE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. SCHOOL OFFICIALS SAY THEY WILL NOTIFY PARENTS BY PHONE LATER TONIGHT IF THOSE STUDENTS WILL HAVE CLASSES CANCELLED TOMORROW.  « Less