Hayes High School had a short day Tuesday after a boiler issue resulted in an early dismissal for students.

Tuesday afternoon, Hayes High School Interim Principal Rex Reeder sent a message to parents of Hayes students detailing the heating issue at the school.

Reeder said that per standard procedure, the school’s boiler was checked by the district maintenance team around 7 p.m. Monday, and it was working as expected. Reeder said that when the staff arrived at Hayes on Tuesday, several teachers reported that their rooms felt colder than usual but said that is “sometimes expected after a long weekend with no one in the building.”

Reeder said as the morning progressed, the building was not getting warmer, and a company was summoned to inspect the boiler.

“It was determined that the boiler was not heating as expected, and they could not provide a definitive timeline for fixing the issue,” Reeder said. “Temperatures varied throughout the building. At approximately 9:25 a.m., we determined we could not keep students in the building for the entire day, and the district started making plans for an early dismissal. Students were dismissed at 9:55 a.m., and transportation was able to pick up bus riders around 10:10 a.m.”

Reeder said that in a separate incident, one classroom had a coil freeze and break in the room’s unit ventilator, which caused that specific room to have ice inside the classroom.

“We immediately moved those students to another classroom once the teacher notified the office of the situation,” Reeder said in the email to families.

Grace Metz, a senior and the editor-in-chief of The Talisman, Hayes High School’s student newspaper, said Tuesday afternoon that The Talisman was “glad the situation is being addressed” but said the situation seems like it could have been avoided with “more due diligence on part of the district.”

“Overall, the Talisman hopes that administration listens more intently to the concerns of our school community and works to prevent issues like this from happening in the future,” Metz said in a statement Tuesday.

Reeder said that as of early afternoon, the boiler is operational and the building “has warmed significantly.”

“We will be monitoring the situation throughout this evening and early tomorrow to ensure everything remains operational,” Reeder said. “It is our plan to have our Hayes students in school on Wednesday. We understand that today’s events were not ideal and many false rumors were spread through social media that caused additional concern, but we thank you for your patience and cooperation as we worked to ensure a safe dismissal for all students.”

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.