Aldine ISD students sickened by heat during hours-long power outage

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Several Aldine ISD students were sickened by the heat today during an hours-long power outage at Anderson Academy.

Aldine ISD tells abc13 a CenterPoint transformer blew out Monday morning at about 8:35, leaving the students and staff without lights and air conditioning until the power was restored at 1:05pm.

About half a dozen students became ill and were taken to the nurse's office. The school says they contacted parents of any kids with asthma.

"It was very tragic for me," David Harrison said. "My son has been struggling with asthma for two years and had to keep him out of school for a while and he was one of the kids called to office for an asthma scare."

Harrison picked up his son early from school to make sure he could stay cool

"My son was very hot. When he got to the car and felt the air conditioning, he just laid out and fell asleep in the back seat."

Parents said they received text messages and phone calls from teachers, letting them know they had the option of picking up their children early.

"She said it was extremely hot. She said they took several water breaks throughout the day, but it's too hot for them, if you could just hurry up and come get our kids," Candice Lang explained about the messages she received from her daughter's teacher.

A district spokesperson said the children were kept in cooler areas of the school and kept indoors. They also received sack lunches because of the lack of electricity.

Parents said the power went out again in parts of the building after it was restored, so CenterPoint sent a crew to check out the situation.

A brief letter explaining the situation went home with students. The letter reads:

"Today, our electricity went out due to a Center Point transformer malfunction. Aldine ISD immediately notified Center Point Energy. Center Point Energy responded by repairing the transformer.

We are committed to the safety and concern of our scholars. We worked quickly to ensure that our scholars were cool and calm. The scholars were engaged in instructional activities that limited movement so that they would not get over heated."