'Heat days' becoming a concern for schools in Midwest with some lacking air conditioning

Snow days are a fairly common in school districts where winter weather can get too dangerous. But with schools starting earlier every year, and with stifling hot temperatures across much of the U.S. this summer, schools are experiencing a new phenomenon, heat days, Don Babwin and David Mercer report for The Associated Press. Last week "some Midwest schools gave students extra water and bathroom breaks or canceled after-school activities. Districts from St. Joseph, Mo., and Frankfort, Ind., sent kids home early. In Fargo, N.D., five schools got the week off." (Star-Tribune photo by Glen Stubbe: Hiawatha Elementary School doesn't have air-conditioning.)

Minnesota students, teachers, and parents led a crusade last week that resulted in the closure of several schools for two days, after the state had record or near-record heat, Steve Brandt reports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The move wasn't surprising, considering 71 of the state's schools don't have air conditioning. A study found  it would cost between $275 to $350 million over 10 years to put air-conditioning in those schools. Student Madeline Peak, 14, told Tim Post of Minnesota Public Radio, "You felt like you were sitting in a little puddle of sweat all day. It was disgusting." In an editorial in the Star Tribune, Anthony Newby opines, "Fifty years after MLK’s march on Washington, and with the worst equity gaps in the nation, we’re now unable to provide even the most basic climate controls for our children."

Matt Patton, superintendent of a one-school district in Baxter, Iowa, told the AP, "I was up on the third floor and it was 93.8 degrees in the classroom and the kids hadn't been there in hours. You put 20 bodies in there and it will go up to at least 95 and you can imagine all the sweat on the desks and textbooks." Sheila Greenwood, who oversees 380 students in a district 20 miles southwest of Champaign, Ill., told the AP, "Thinking about air conditioning – we can't even afford new textbooks."

The debate, between school officials and parents, hinges on when the school year should start. Officials want it to start earlier to allow students more training days for standardized testing and new academic standards, but  parents are unhappy that their children are heading back to school when the temperatures are still in the 90s.

Schools in Sioux City decided to move the start of school a week later next year after getting an earful from parents, the AP reports. A parent group in North Dakota is trying to launch a ballot measure requiring schools to start after Labor Day. But even if a law is passed, some districts are finding a way around it. Iowa lawmakers enacted legislation that requires school districts wait until September to open, but schools can obtain a waiver to start earlier, and 336 of 346 have done just that. Indiana lawmakers have also tried to push the first day to after Labor Day, but have run into resistance from schools. (Read more)