As schools are returning to session following one of the hottest summers ever recorded, districts are faced with a new problem: how to handle increasingly extreme heatwaves, both in and outside the classroom.
Unbearably hot days are no longer just a summer problem. In the U.S. districts from the north-east to the mountain west to the deep south are shortening days, delaying openings, and reworking calendars as temperatures spike during August and September, the typical back-to-school months.
A handful of potential methods for protecting students from extreme temperatures have been put forward, including modernizing HVAC systems, creating more shade on playgrounds, swapping their blacktop surfaces for grass and, perhaps most provocatively, reworking school calendars. There’s even some talk of replacing summer vacation with a spring or fall break, if schools can be kept cool enough, when homes for some students may be hotter.
Read more at The Guardian.
