AS schools return to the session after anyone Summer heat Absolutely, the regions face a new problem: how to deal with increasing thermal waves, inside and outside the semester.
The unbearable hot days are just a summer problem. In the American regions from the northeast to the mountain in the west to the depths of the south, the days are shortened, the delay of the openings, and the rehabilitation of the calendars with the high temperatures during the month of August and September, the usual months to school.
A handful of possible way to protect students from maximum temperatures, including the update of HVAC systems, created more shadow on the stadiums, exchange their black surfaces of the grass, and perhaps most provocative, school calendars. Even there is some talk about replacing the summer vacation with a spring or autumn vacation, if it is possible to keep schools cold enough, when homes are for some students more hot.
School schedules have already started to shift. New York City recently urged schools to transfer the end of the year Activities inside During the heat wave in June 2025, Philadelphia rejected students early in More than 60 university universities During late August 2024 because the buildings lack sufficient cooling.
Detroit also cut short days in the first week of the 2024-25 academic year with the rise of heat indicators. In Colorado Bodri District SchoolMost schools announced early releases for two hours for 14 and 15 August due to high temperatures. In June, Alaska’s famous state was the famous The first in the state Heat consultant.
As the climate crisis is already Road formation We discuss the future of education in the United States, the rearrangement of the evaluation has become one of the tactics of educational areas to address this issue.
“It is definitely one of the technologies that you can take to address the maximum temperature events, especially because we are already witnessing the postponement of school and the abolition of days or move,” said Grace Wixon, the first director of the Climate and Health Team in the Union of American Scholars.
“But even with some major legislation of the recent administration, climate risk on schools is still a major gap in our climate strategy,” Wixon said. “So I think this certainly should be part of the conversation about the things we need to do differently in the intense heat era.”
Last summer, 22 organizations, including the Union of American Scholars, sent a letter To the US Department of Education, which urges them to take quick measures to protect students from hot weather.
The Green Schools Center in the American Green Building Council is another name in the letter. The center is not profitable for driving in energy and environmental design (LEDClassification system, a frame for the design of ready -made climate buildings that have been adopted so far by more than 5,000 American schools.
Although LeEd has become a common strategy for schools to prepare against the hottest temperatures, the policy aspect may be difficult to move due to the lack of government guidance.
“The main issue is that we have a little data about school buildings throughout the country because they are all managed locally,” said Anisa Hemingle, director of the Green Schools Center. “There is no data collection at the federal level, and in most states in fact there is no data collection, so we have a little data about the buildings themselves.
She added, “Then there is no real threshold that was established when the school has already done a good job in being a heat reference.” “So we have a set of strategies that schools can adopt, but we have no real feeling if we do enough because there is no standard to follow.”
Most American schools have been built for a cooler climate that no longer exists. Government accountability office reconnaissance In 2020, it was estimated that 41 % of the areas needed to update or replace HVAC systems in at least half of its schools, about 36,000 buildings.
Despite the need and focus on air conditioning, this is not the only thing that the school will need to be a heat reference. Reducing the black sidewalk on the stadiums and increasing the shade by planting trees are also common requirements.
She recently cooperated on erasing environmental illiteracy, a non -profit institution based in California, working to increase environmental literacy, and it is not profitable in California to increase environmental literacy, recently cooperated on a Trees Umbrella Project To measure the amount of trees in state schools.
Climate experts recommend that urban areas, including educational areas cover the umbrella of the trees at least 30 %. The study found that California schools only had a average coverage of the umbrella of the trees by 6.4 %, as it is less than half of the current amount within the reach of children during their school day.
“The average number of days is up to 87 degrees each year, and we appreciate that it will reach 120 days a year in the twenties of the last century,” said Andra Yagwyan, the chief information official at Ten Strands.
“Some people look at this and they are like: ’87, this is just a beautiful day.” Well, it is a beautiful day if you are in air conditioning. “And if you go out to the field and do not have any shade, it is just a Black, 87 degrees actually resembles 100 degrees.”
Healthy stakes for increased temperatures are real, as children are especially at risk during heat waves. The federal heat directions list children between the population composition in The highest danger During severe heat, public health agencies recommend schools to reduce effort, ensure hydration and control activities with high temperatures.
Data collected by Undauntedk12, which is another non -profit calling for more heat -resistant facilities and Cosigner from the message, indicates this More than 1000 schools It was affected by intense heat during the academic year 2024-2025.
“We see these main headlines all the time now. It seems that it is every summer and even in the fall, it closes the schools early,” said Christine Hunggen, the program director of the Undaungk12 program. “Post -school activities are canceled. We can see that many of our schools are not ready for heat.”
The hottest temperatures also contribute to high rates Absence in schoolEspecially for black students, of Spanish origin and below the income. Since children of low -income families are likely to be registered in schools that are not enough air conditioning, these children often choose to stay at home during the hottest days instead of risk commenting in a semester.
“One of my biggest fears is that many children who lack AC in their schools also do not own it at home,” he said. “I am particularly thinking about children who may enroll in schools in low -income societies. We don’t want them to spend more hotter days in a hot house.”
But just one year ago, not only a local profitability that leads the increasing anti -heat ways. The National Integrated thermal Health Information System (Nihhis) was a cooperation between 29 federal health agencies established during the Obama administration to unify heat experience.
In the early summer of 2025, the Trump administration has cleared many of these experts, leaving Nihhs strongly Employees.
But there was some progress at the state level. New York has recently become the first state Pass legislation Create instructions for severe heat conditions in school buildings. The law, which applies into effect on September 1, determines 88f (31C) as a maximum temperature for the occupied spaces in school buildings. It also requires schools to take measures, such as transferring students, when temperatures reach 82F.
“People could have always remembered here in New York, we had the minimum temperature of construction of classrooms and schools of 65 degrees,” said Senator James Scoves, who defended legislation. The last offer With the American Progress Center. “But even this bill passed, we did not have a maximum temperature.”
He added: “You cannot, in any way, in any way, in shape or shape, actually study if it is higher than 90 degrees in the semester, and it does not matter learning.”
But one blatant problem is still in place. Even if schools throughout the country are successfully modified to be a heat reference, most children are not in classroom during the summer months. The summer vacation, the peak time for children to play outside without the stress of the academic circles, is soon unbearable to play outdoors.
Therefore, the question raises: Is it safer to keep children in schools that are sufficiently cooled during the intense heat, or allow them to stay at home to alleviate the risk of heat? Just as the rowing may be, can there be a future as the summer vacation becomes autumn or spring holiday as a way to keep children in the air -conditioned semesters during the summer?
“It is definitely a required conversation,” Wixon said. “I am not quite sure that we are ready for school in July, just because they did not start it operating. But if there is a concerted effort to increase the cooling capabilities of these buildings, they are likely to be some of the safest places for children to go in the summer months.”
Yeghoian also agrees that she can imagine this future, but it adds that just moving the summer vacation will not do much to change the reality of children who need to play outdoors throughout the year.
“What might be perfect is that children should have a balance in learning at home, learning abroad, playing inside and playing outdoor,” said Yeghoian said: “It might be perfect is that children should have a balance in learning at home, learning abroad, playing inside and playing outdoor,” said focus on the need for green educational institutions.
“If people assume that children should play abroad only during the summer, you can reset the school calendar.” “But our goal for the future must have children to get outdoors every day.”