Student and parent raise safety concerns at Savannah Arts Academy, citing HVAC smoke and inaudible alarms

A student and a community member used the public-comment period at the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Public Education meeting on Jan. 14 to raise safety and staffing concerns at Savannah Arts Academy and elsewhere in the district.

"Some of those classes unknowingly sat in the toxic smoke for 5 to 10 minutes after the fire alarm was pulled," student Harmon Chenal told the board, describing multiple incidents in which HVAC failures produced black smoke and parts of the building were colder than outside. Chenal said the school’s fire alarm system and intercom were not audible in many classrooms during those events and during an active-shooter drill last fall.

Chenal said the problem persisted after building renovations in 2023 and warned the district the condition could leave students exposed in a real emergency.

"If that's not bad enough, the exact same thing happened last school year," Chenal said. "Any potential that students could miss a real fire alarm needs to be addressed immediately."

During the public-comment period, Jacqueline Scott, who identified herself as a retired Chatham County teacher, told the board she wants to volunteer to support teachers and students. Scott described a long teaching career in the district and said she would "clean closets" or otherwise help in schools; she left contact information with district staff.

Board members acknowledged the comments and asked staff to collect the speakers’ contact information for follow-up. The student testimony focused on emergency-notification audibility and HVAC-related smoke incidents; the retired teacher’s remarks centered on volunteer support for teachers and schools experiencing staffing pressure.

What was said and why it matters

Chenal described two distinct safety concerns: HVAC system failures producing smoke and temperature control problems; and insufficiently audible fire-alarm and intercom systems that left some classrooms unaware an alarm had been sounded. Those failures, he said, occurred during both the current and prior school years.

Scott framed her appearance as an offer of volunteer support for teachers under pressure and asked how she could assist schools.

The board did not take immediate remedial action during the meeting; staff collected contact information and the board requested follow-up. The district did not provide a technical timeline or a remediation plan in the meeting transcript; the student asked for immediate attention to alarm audibility and HVAC problems.