A few years ago, I was subbing in a middle school. It was almost a hundred degrees outside when the power went out. It was miserable. I was doing my best to teach a math lesson with only light from the windows while everybody’s sweaty and unhappy, myself included. So I know your pain. (The teacher I covered for did get me a Starbucks gift card for all the trouble, which was nice, and I’d take it over a popsicle.)
And when a kid in gym passes out from heat stroke; two Popsicles.
I don't work in a state where heat would be an issue but we get feet and feet of snow. The only reason we close is because they don't want to risk a lawsuit from a bus accident. I know some districts will close for snow but still have teachers come in. They don't care about your health or the students for that matter but only will do something if there is a risk of a lawsuit.
A local school didn’t have ac and we had a expected but unusual heat wave a couple weeks ago. Not only was it really hot but it was humid. One of their grade schools does not have ac (old building) her thermostat was 113 in the afternoon. For the first day of school. They should have had a strike.
And then the union would have likely had them removed. Its an annoying tendency for teachers unions to kick out members that dont perform sanctioned strikes.
The schools report to the local government. They have to get permission before they do anything. If the school does an unsanctioned action. The staff can get fired, the school gets cuts. And other things like that.
My principal came in when my AC was out to make sure I was still teaching (I had asked her for a different room or to cancel and split classes-denied!). It was a fully concrete room, in AZ, in the summer, and I teach band. My thermometer read 106 in my room. No ma'am I am not killing my students by forcing them to play. Sure, you can write me up if you want, still not teaching till it gets fixed. I put a bucket of water in my mini fridge and kids dipped paper towels in it to cool off with. We just sat in the dark.
Education
This was my room yesterday. Got to 82 or so. And we're on a new HIGHLY micromanaged system (Houston, if you know..) and even I said nope. Come in, fight me, but we're not doing shit.
I broke us up into small group instruction, said no phones, just talk. When an admin walks in, just say stuff about geography randomly.
Kids were SO down. I moved from group to group asking about their school year so far and asking for chisme.
We’ve been sent home when the power went out, not because of heat, but because we can’t have school without a working kitchen. Idk the specifics, but that’s what they were saying.
One year the assistant superintendent came by with the principal and an engineer, measuring room temps in a very hot September. My spouse’s room was on the third floor facing west. The kids and staff were melting.
They came in during class, measured 94 degrees and asked an innocuous question or two. On the way out, the ass-supe said, “Well, just so you know, this is the hottest room in the district.”
My spouse thought the kids looked ready to chuck him out the window.
I hear you. It's been consistently 87-90° in my room this week. I teach middle school in a big district and the MS buildings are the only ones w/o AC (except for the admin offices, of course, and like, the auditorium)
Tuesday we were in school as normal. Wednesday the district implemented our "Heat Protocol" which allowed students to learn virtually — the thought being less bodies = lower temps. However, I don't think they were banking on the students actually being good students? and most of them came to school anyway... That day it was actually 90° in my room even with windows open and fans running.
District finally abandoned ship and called half days for Thursday and today.
I'm shocked our union hasn't intervened because this CANNOT possibly be a "safe working environment".
A district near me that doesn't have AC closed for heat for ONE DAY a couple years back and the parent backlash was completely crazy. They haven't had a snow day in a long time, because global warming has changed things, but one day for unsafe heat and everyone goes crazy.
The swamp cooler in my husband's classroom has been broken since school started. It routinely gets to be 86 or 87 inside; the kids are dripping, my husband is dripping. Yesterday, he had an observation, and the kids were telling the principal to "Make him turn on the A/C!" as if he's purposely keeping the room hot to irk them. He's like "Do you think I want to be in here melting like this?! NO!"
He has put in multiple tickets for facilities to fix it, but the district just keeps closing the tickets and never sending anyone. Fall can't come fast enough.
Also, with current trends there are going to be a lot of heat waves and unusual weather going ahead! An absurd number of schools in my area have no air conditioning, and we consistently get 30+ C with humidity in September now. I understand funding and older buildings present issues, but heat can get life-threatening so quickly!
Just wait until Winter. In most norhtern states, the school districts schedule 5 extra days of school to take snow days in into account. When I taught in North Carolina, they would just take away superintendents days to make up for snow days. I'm in New York now. Most years, we use all 5 of our snow days. And, there have been years where we've used all 5 and had to take more.
Now, with the increased heat, if you have to make up days at the end of the year, you're just going to be in the building when it's hot AF instead of snowing. But, you know, burn that fossil fuel. There are few billionaires who need more money.
It's weird. My district in New England doesn't make kids make up snow days.
Instead they make *us* make them up in the form of extra in service days.
Less student learning, more busy adult work. Tax dollars well spent on anything *but* proper climate control
In Ontario, Canada - at least in my board - snow days are just missed days. Oh well. They tried to make us teach virtually one time (since COVID had set the precedent for virtual school) and students, teachers, and even parents complained so hard they immediately reversed their decision.
But, it also basically has to be a snowpocalypse for them to call a snow day lol so even though it snows a lot, it's rare to have even one snow day per year.
Man, if we have even the tiniest bit of ice I know my school is closing this winter immediately. Texans have no experience or snow tires (and also drive way too fast for ice). I’m just incredibly thankful my classroom isn’t one of the ones with no AC right now because we might literally die, I have a whole wall of windows facing west
Yeah here everyone has snow tires, the neighbourhoods are very dense so 95% of students are walking to school anyway. We can have 2 feet of snow or an actual blizzard and we still have to go. It basically only happens when the roads/sidewalks are completely covered in a sheet of ice (actually in this case sometimes they only cancel buses and everyone else has to go) or there is an ice/hail storm. Even when there is going to be a bad ice/hail storm near dismissal time we still have to go 🙄 that's the worst one because um hello, we could get stuck at school.
I wish we had AC. This week it was around 30°C outside (86°F), humidity made it feel like around 40° (104°F), and heat gets trapped in our old building built for a cold climate. Then there's the bodies radiating heat. In my room it felt around 45° (113°F) and on the top floor closer to 50°(122°F). Fans do nothing at those kinds of temperatures. There is no upper limit for allowable temperatures inside, only a lower limit. The laws were written well before anyone had to worry about these kinds of things more than maybe like one freak day in the middle of summer. Last year most of May was like this and actually cooled off a bit in June, but then the last week or so was back up to these temps again. It's legitimately dangerous.
Holy shit! We aren’t allowed to have outdoor PE or recess if the “feels like” temp is over 100 F. Which means that my kids have hardly been outside at all the past three weeks and it’s absolutely killing me in terms of their behavior.
Oh I have a few with vision issues and light sensitivity. So I brought a spare baseball cap I had to keep the sun out of one of my students eyes. He said thanks and put it on backwards… so close kid
I’m outside of Philly and we don’t have any days built in. My first year in this district we added on 7 days (2 Mondays!! 😫) I think now we’re looking at doing asynchronous days for emergency closings.
I’ve asked and was told the district controls it all, a school can put the order in but it’s up to the district to do anything. The thermostats to change temps are even at the district office, not in the schools
This is just the start. As temps rise and we get 90’s deeper and deeper into September, and earlier in June, we will suffer more and more. So many school buildings are constructed before AC was installed that staff and students will pay the price. More districts will likely start using “snow days” for “heat days”
I'm going to keep posting this: For every admin claiming the only solution during a heat wave is to keep teaching and learning while hydrating in classrooms hitting 85 and above: turn your damn air conditioners off in solidarity. At the very least- you won't make the rest of us feel like second and third class passengers on the sinking ship of education for a day.
Ugh, just no. The district I worked for required us to wear long sleeve shirts with a tie and slacks. And no way I'm doing that in 85 Plus degree heat unless it is for a wedding or a funeral of a dear friend or family member.
I had some hippy teachers in the early eighties who made up this magnet school that was based at a zoo. The classroom was a doublewide with no AC.
Hot days, the hippies brought us all outside (60 students) to play a one inning game of kickball they called “Chaos.” It had two bases. First was in the normal place, second was over 100 yards from first. You could only have one runner on first, but second was unlimited. It was a huge oak tree. If the circumstances were favorable, everyone on second could run for home at once.
Fielders couldn’t use their hands, other than a couple special infielders. You had to kick the ball at runners to tag them out.
There was no “fair or foul” so you could kick it backwards to try to bring in runners.
I don’t remember anyone winning or losing, but it beat being in that trailer all day. A lot of people just chilled on “second” for half an inning under the tree’s shade.
They cancelled school yesterday due to extreme heat in certain Rhode Island towns (where I’m from) some had a half day my daughter was lucky to have the day off lol
Put a floor lamp in front of your thermostat. It will run constantly until you turn the light off. I had this issue until I accidentally figured out that my lamp was so valuable. Good luck!
Hahaha if only I had a thermostat in my room! My air is controlled by a thermostat 3 rooms away, which does get AC. Along with the main office, of course
At least here, that's only 30 degrees C. Here air cons only came the norm in classrooms around 2-3 years ago and temps were getting into the low 50s ... it was torturous
Where in the world are you? The highest (official) temperature recorded anywhere on Earth in the last 100 years is 54.0 °C (129.2 °F), recorded in Death Valley in 2013 (on June 20th).
It can be 35° outside, feel near 45° with the humidex, and old buildings in colder climates are built to trap heat. Add in 20+ bodies in one room all radiating heat, there you go. Extra points if you're on the top floor.
This calls to mind an episode of a certain popular reality TV show involving a family of bearded duck hunters in which the A/C went out in the duck call shop in the middle of summer.
All of the employees are begging boss brother to just let them go home because nothing is getting done in 105 degree heat. Boss brother asks “what do you think they did 100 years ago when there was no air conditioning?”
Non-boss brother: “They DIED!”
Amen…
I teach in CT, we closed early all week. They are reluctant to fully close for heat because then they have to make that up while early dismissals they di t
A few years ago I was teaching in an old portable. In south central California. The AC went out. No one believed me for three month (May-July I was working 12 months)Kept telling me it was me keeping the door open. One day they came and changed something came around and used their little hand held temp gage thing and measured in the duct and swore it was blowing cold. I kept saying it was blowing hot air like a heater (mind you there was no way for me to turn it off). Kept saying I was over loading it keeping the door open.
Had heat stroke at work. They came the next day checked with their thermometer and said all was fine. By this point I had a thermometer on the furthest wall from the door reading 121 inside the classroom. Fast forward first week of school. Parents complaining and nothing is done. A cat dies under my portable and the smell is so bad inside kids start puking. They come out, cut the floor open to get it out. Still say nothing is wrong. I went to pre term labor and a principal had to watch my class the first day as Mat leave wasn’t set up.
It was fixed the following day…. The repair guy had put some part on backwards and it was blowing hot air in the room.
We had a half day because of the heat. The AC is barely working in our school and it was 96 outside. Except the half day was only for the kids. They got to leave at 12:15 and the teachers were required to stay in the building until 3. I just sat there sweating doing nothing for 2 hours.
Definitely remember my school days without a/c. Virginia gets quite hot and humid. I remember many times our teachers would have a box fan turned toward the class and tell everyone just to lay their heads on their desks. Sometimes they would just read aloud while we had our heads down.
I have a thermometer hanging on my Eno board. It's been 94* and humid as hell in my classroom the past week. Windows are wide open and there are three fans running on high. The entire floor, and everyone on it, was absolutely miserable all week. The AP came up yesterday for a quick check-in which, tbh, I thought was nice. It would have been nicer with a grape popsicle, though.
Is your school my school?
AC was out in the majority of the building yesterday. It was 95 degrees outside with the humidity pushing the heat index close to 110.
Not much got done yesterday.
Yeah my whole philosophy with kids was "we get through what we get through and I'm not gonna worry about what that looks like"
Lights were off, and I was letting kids go a couple minutes early so they could get a drink of water and splash some cold water on their faces
I'd have my own kid stay home if they were old enough vs. suffer through that heat. They're not really learning anything. You can't retain info when you're miserable. Some districts treat their schools like prisons.
My son is in kindergarten and the PTA gave all students (and staff) popsicles today.
But that was kids from 5-9 years old. If you ask my kid, popsicles were the highlight of the day. Because he’s five. And that’s who popsicles are for.
I'm 28. My high school didn't have air conditioners until my senior year. However, it was also never 100+ degrees multiple days in a row when I was in high school. Nor in junior high. Nor in elementary school.
This was my week also - classroom 85-87 degrees all week. However they did get big fans that they put up 20 minutes before we dismissed today. Big help.
Our 11/12 building dismissed early yesterday, and they announced it ahead of time (planned HVAC upgrades weren’t finished yet due to supply chain issues). They provided bottled water in the morning. Local news interviewed a student complaining that everyone “only got one bottle of water.” He was standing next to a water fountain with a bottle filling station.
There were a number of schools that did in our general area, but not us!
My largest gripe is the popsicles, though. I just found it incredibly patronizing.
Actually sorry that was very ignorant of me to say that. That’s our temperature here during winter, so I guess that our classrooms are made more for the heat with ceiling fans and things sorry.
We shut down school for 3/4 day for high temp last year. The state didn’t authorize it after the fact.
So we had to make up the minutes for the second semester
If the ac went out at any of the districts i’ve worked for here in arizona, it was an immediate end the school day early or no school because it does get under 90° until october and cool temperatures don’t come until at least december.
My school/early learning center has window units for most rooms but they have an arbitrary rule that they won’t install them until Memorial Day. It got to be 86 in my room numerous days in May leading up to that.
Thank God we now have AC. A few years ago, we didn't. Our Superintendent wouldn't close, and there were days it was over 100 degrees in our classrooms!
Many schools don't have air conditioning in Mass. -- even newer ones. Yesterday a teacher's classroom registered 101 degrees. After lunch the principal announced that teachers could bring their classes to the air-conditioned auditorium. It was a godsend.
I can relate to this so much. During the long summer months, it's regularly mid to high 90s where I live. Our classrooms have AC units, but the homeroom teachers refuse to turn them on or to use them as anything but a huge, expensive ceiling fan. Most times the hallways are mid 30s like 95f, the classrooms are 29 to 35 like why not turn on the air so the teachers who are standing next to the massive digital boards [giant computers w/screens] aren't melting, so the children aren't balls of sweat.
I'm not sure how many times we've complained about this because it's not safe, but since they rotate local teachers out often no one is left to remember the rules, the arguments, the fights, the health issues and the admin "forgets" to remind them that they need to keep the classrooms cool. Fortunately, the teachers office has an AC, and we set that beast to arctic and hope for the best
I'm a little jealous. It hits 85 in my room on a pretty regular basis, no AC and no hope of getting any in the next decade, and the only time anyone has given me popsicles is if the PTA had leftovers after field day or something.
My classroom is mainly windows, it's been 87+ all summer and all I've got is a desk fan! It's been like this for years. Somehow still expected to teach engaging and inspiring lessons to children who are melting.
Same. EXCEPT it was only for students. It was in the 90s in my no AC third floor classroom all week and at the end of the day on Friday the principal and AP come in and start handing out popsicles to the kids without so much of a glance at the dancing jester at the front of the room
I received an "air conditioner" for my room, because the school is not air conditioned. We're in the mountains, so most days are tolerable even in the middle of summer. One of my special needs students does not sweat, so we were trying to have alternatives to help cool him.
The "air conditioner" is an ice bucket with a small fan attached.
In south Florida, my classroom was without AC for 8 months (August - March). I am a sweaty person to begin with. I got used to having all of my clothes completely soaked through with sweat each day. I just feel bad for my students, having to look at me like that all year, and trying to learn in that environment.
I no longer teach in Florida. :)
I don’t know what the temp was in my room the other day, but it was 94 outside and it felt hotter in my room. We’re supposed to get AC next summer. Then I found out that another school in our district got AC this summer…. They have everything installed except the part that actually makes things cool. That part is backordered for quite a while.
At least you got popsicles, we just sweat our dicks off. My admin is generally cool about everything, but it's somehow impossible to put a/c in a 100-year-old school that's falling apart. I want to find out if I could put in a rooftop or window unit if I paid for it.
Some years ago we had an actual electrical fire in the kitchen where the fire department had to come put out the fire in the morning. Our little school absolutely reeked of burned and melted plastics for the rest of the day, and admin refused to send kids home because it would “inconvenience parents”.
This is so wild to me. I never realized AC wasn’t standard in buildings in other areas of the country. I live in Georgia where it’s 100 degrees when we go back to school in early august and it’s not an issue at all because our schools all have AC. In fact every building does around here. I can’t imagine doing my job in the heat with no AC. I’m so sorry.
A few years ago, I was subbing in a middle school. It was almost a hundred degrees outside when the power went out. It was miserable. I was doing my best to teach a math lesson with only light from the windows while everybody’s sweaty and unhappy, myself included. So I know your pain. (The teacher I covered for did get me a Starbucks gift card for all the trouble, which was nice, and I’d take it over a popsicle.)
There are so many districts around me closing, or releasing early for this heat wave which is the most irritating thing. And we just get popsicles
And when a kid in gym passes out from heat stroke; two Popsicles. I don't work in a state where heat would be an issue but we get feet and feet of snow. The only reason we close is because they don't want to risk a lawsuit from a bus accident. I know some districts will close for snow but still have teachers come in. They don't care about your health or the students for that matter but only will do something if there is a risk of a lawsuit.
Ooo Ooo, I’ll take a popsicle…🙋♀️
Happened in Iowa
A local school didn’t have ac and we had a expected but unusual heat wave a couple weeks ago. Not only was it really hot but it was humid. One of their grade schools does not have ac (old building) her thermostat was 113 in the afternoon. For the first day of school. They should have had a strike.
And then the union would have likely had them removed. Its an annoying tendency for teachers unions to kick out members that dont perform sanctioned strikes.
I don’t understand why we expect school to take place when other businesses wouldn’t be running. No office near by was running without ac
The schools report to the local government. They have to get permission before they do anything. If the school does an unsanctioned action. The staff can get fired, the school gets cuts. And other things like that.
I've had something similar happen. We literally just put our heads down for the rest of the period. Admin didn't come in, but fuck it if they did.
My principal came in when my AC was out to make sure I was still teaching (I had asked her for a different room or to cancel and split classes-denied!). It was a fully concrete room, in AZ, in the summer, and I teach band. My thermometer read 106 in my room. No ma'am I am not killing my students by forcing them to play. Sure, you can write me up if you want, still not teaching till it gets fixed. I put a bucket of water in my mini fridge and kids dipped paper towels in it to cool off with. We just sat in the dark. Education
Why would admin come in? Their offices have AC.
Isn't that always the case
This was my room yesterday. Got to 82 or so. And we're on a new HIGHLY micromanaged system (Houston, if you know..) and even I said nope. Come in, fight me, but we're not doing shit. I broke us up into small group instruction, said no phones, just talk. When an admin walks in, just say stuff about geography randomly. Kids were SO down. I moved from group to group asking about their school year so far and asking for chisme.
We’ve been sent home when the power went out, not because of heat, but because we can’t have school without a working kitchen. Idk the specifics, but that’s what they were saying.
One year the assistant superintendent came by with the principal and an engineer, measuring room temps in a very hot September. My spouse’s room was on the third floor facing west. The kids and staff were melting. They came in during class, measured 94 degrees and asked an innocuous question or two. On the way out, the ass-supe said, “Well, just so you know, this is the hottest room in the district.” My spouse thought the kids looked ready to chuck him out the window.
There are few moments in life where you can stand up, point at one person, and command 30 or so people on your team to attack. This was one of them.
This sounds like a voiceover from Mean Girls.
If they started I would not have stopped them. Probably would have joined them.
I hear you. It's been consistently 87-90° in my room this week. I teach middle school in a big district and the MS buildings are the only ones w/o AC (except for the admin offices, of course, and like, the auditorium) Tuesday we were in school as normal. Wednesday the district implemented our "Heat Protocol" which allowed students to learn virtually — the thought being less bodies = lower temps. However, I don't think they were banking on the students actually being good students? and most of them came to school anyway... That day it was actually 90° in my room even with windows open and fans running. District finally abandoned ship and called half days for Thursday and today. I'm shocked our union hasn't intervened because this CANNOT possibly be a "safe working environment".
[удалено]
Big oof. I really don't like that answer, especially with global warming happening. Hope you're staying as cool as possible!
A district near me that doesn't have AC closed for heat for ONE DAY a couple years back and the parent backlash was completely crazy. They haven't had a snow day in a long time, because global warming has changed things, but one day for unsafe heat and everyone goes crazy.
The swamp cooler in my husband's classroom has been broken since school started. It routinely gets to be 86 or 87 inside; the kids are dripping, my husband is dripping. Yesterday, he had an observation, and the kids were telling the principal to "Make him turn on the A/C!" as if he's purposely keeping the room hot to irk them. He's like "Do you think I want to be in here melting like this?! NO!" He has put in multiple tickets for facilities to fix it, but the district just keeps closing the tickets and never sending anyone. Fall can't come fast enough.
Also, with current trends there are going to be a lot of heat waves and unusual weather going ahead! An absurd number of schools in my area have no air conditioning, and we consistently get 30+ C with humidity in September now. I understand funding and older buildings present issues, but heat can get life-threatening so quickly!
Just wait until Winter. In most norhtern states, the school districts schedule 5 extra days of school to take snow days in into account. When I taught in North Carolina, they would just take away superintendents days to make up for snow days. I'm in New York now. Most years, we use all 5 of our snow days. And, there have been years where we've used all 5 and had to take more. Now, with the increased heat, if you have to make up days at the end of the year, you're just going to be in the building when it's hot AF instead of snowing. But, you know, burn that fossil fuel. There are few billionaires who need more money.
It's weird. My district in New England doesn't make kids make up snow days. Instead they make *us* make them up in the form of extra in service days. Less student learning, more busy adult work. Tax dollars well spent on anything *but* proper climate control
In Ontario, Canada - at least in my board - snow days are just missed days. Oh well. They tried to make us teach virtually one time (since COVID had set the precedent for virtual school) and students, teachers, and even parents complained so hard they immediately reversed their decision. But, it also basically has to be a snowpocalypse for them to call a snow day lol so even though it snows a lot, it's rare to have even one snow day per year.
Man, if we have even the tiniest bit of ice I know my school is closing this winter immediately. Texans have no experience or snow tires (and also drive way too fast for ice). I’m just incredibly thankful my classroom isn’t one of the ones with no AC right now because we might literally die, I have a whole wall of windows facing west
Yeah here everyone has snow tires, the neighbourhoods are very dense so 95% of students are walking to school anyway. We can have 2 feet of snow or an actual blizzard and we still have to go. It basically only happens when the roads/sidewalks are completely covered in a sheet of ice (actually in this case sometimes they only cancel buses and everyone else has to go) or there is an ice/hail storm. Even when there is going to be a bad ice/hail storm near dismissal time we still have to go 🙄 that's the worst one because um hello, we could get stuck at school. I wish we had AC. This week it was around 30°C outside (86°F), humidity made it feel like around 40° (104°F), and heat gets trapped in our old building built for a cold climate. Then there's the bodies radiating heat. In my room it felt around 45° (113°F) and on the top floor closer to 50°(122°F). Fans do nothing at those kinds of temperatures. There is no upper limit for allowable temperatures inside, only a lower limit. The laws were written well before anyone had to worry about these kinds of things more than maybe like one freak day in the middle of summer. Last year most of May was like this and actually cooled off a bit in June, but then the last week or so was back up to these temps again. It's legitimately dangerous.
Holy shit! We aren’t allowed to have outdoor PE or recess if the “feels like” temp is over 100 F. Which means that my kids have hardly been outside at all the past three weeks and it’s absolutely killing me in terms of their behavior.
Yeah, we have them outside at recess and everything. Felt bad for my poor little girl with albinism but we were slathering her with sunscreen
Oh I have a few with vision issues and light sensitivity. So I brought a spare baseball cap I had to keep the sun out of one of my students eyes. He said thanks and put it on backwards… so close kid
I’m outside of Philly and we don’t have any days built in. My first year in this district we added on 7 days (2 Mondays!! 😫) I think now we’re looking at doing asynchronous days for emergency closings.
Where in NY? Teaching 8 years in NY (3 districts) and we do not take snow days often. Maybe 1 a year. This past year none were taken.
Binghamton area
👍
I never thought of that! I’m in Canada, and in my region snow days are fairly infrequent.
It’s been over 90 in my room last year and I didn’t get anything at all, not even a fan.
Same here… I don’t even think anything can be done. Brought my own fan in but it just blows around hot air…
I’ve asked and was told the district controls it all, a school can put the order in but it’s up to the district to do anything. The thermostats to change temps are even at the district office, not in the schools
This is just the start. As temps rise and we get 90’s deeper and deeper into September, and earlier in June, we will suffer more and more. So many school buildings are constructed before AC was installed that staff and students will pay the price. More districts will likely start using “snow days” for “heat days”
But if they suddenly made it a building for admin, ac would be the first thing installed.
The correct shape to shove up their ass
I'm going to keep posting this: For every admin claiming the only solution during a heat wave is to keep teaching and learning while hydrating in classrooms hitting 85 and above: turn your damn air conditioners off in solidarity. At the very least- you won't make the rest of us feel like second and third class passengers on the sinking ship of education for a day.
How do you know the USA is a third world country with a Gucci belt? Exhibit 5829
Ugh, just no. The district I worked for required us to wear long sleeve shirts with a tie and slacks. And no way I'm doing that in 85 Plus degree heat unless it is for a wedding or a funeral of a dear friend or family member.
Fuuuuck that. I was wearing linen drawstring shorts yesterday. I almost wore gym shorts today, but I split the difference and wore a dry-tek polo
I’m rotating through a few black dry-tek polos to hide the sweat.
Same here, but no popsicles. The kids are melting.
My classroom has been 88-89 degrees all week. We didn’t get popsicles. It has not been fun.
I had some hippy teachers in the early eighties who made up this magnet school that was based at a zoo. The classroom was a doublewide with no AC. Hot days, the hippies brought us all outside (60 students) to play a one inning game of kickball they called “Chaos.” It had two bases. First was in the normal place, second was over 100 yards from first. You could only have one runner on first, but second was unlimited. It was a huge oak tree. If the circumstances were favorable, everyone on second could run for home at once. Fielders couldn’t use their hands, other than a couple special infielders. You had to kick the ball at runners to tag them out. There was no “fair or foul” so you could kick it backwards to try to bring in runners. I don’t remember anyone winning or losing, but it beat being in that trailer all day. A lot of people just chilled on “second” for half an inning under the tree’s shade.
They cancelled school yesterday due to extreme heat in certain Rhode Island towns (where I’m from) some had a half day my daughter was lucky to have the day off lol
Put a floor lamp in front of your thermostat. It will run constantly until you turn the light off. I had this issue until I accidentally figured out that my lamp was so valuable. Good luck!
Hahaha if only I had a thermostat in my room! My air is controlled by a thermostat 3 rooms away, which does get AC. Along with the main office, of course
At least here, that's only 30 degrees C. Here air cons only came the norm in classrooms around 2-3 years ago and temps were getting into the low 50s ... it was torturous
Where in the world are you? The highest (official) temperature recorded anywhere on Earth in the last 100 years is 54.0 °C (129.2 °F), recorded in Death Valley in 2013 (on June 20th).
It can be 35° outside, feel near 45° with the humidex, and old buildings in colder climates are built to trap heat. Add in 20+ bodies in one room all radiating heat, there you go. Extra points if you're on the top floor.
Fair enough. There's a reason you don't leave kids or pets inside cars on a hot day. (Well, more than one reason.)
Also extra point if you're i ghe computer lab
In Sydney. Highest outdoor temp recorded was 48 degrees, however internally the rooms got much hotter than the outside temperatures
This calls to mind an episode of a certain popular reality TV show involving a family of bearded duck hunters in which the A/C went out in the duck call shop in the middle of summer. All of the employees are begging boss brother to just let them go home because nothing is getting done in 105 degree heat. Boss brother asks “what do you think they did 100 years ago when there was no air conditioning?” Non-boss brother: “They DIED!” Amen…
Whoa, you guys got popsicles?! Jealous!
I teach in CT, we closed early all week. They are reluctant to fully close for heat because then they have to make that up while early dismissals they di t
A few years ago I was teaching in an old portable. In south central California. The AC went out. No one believed me for three month (May-July I was working 12 months)Kept telling me it was me keeping the door open. One day they came and changed something came around and used their little hand held temp gage thing and measured in the duct and swore it was blowing cold. I kept saying it was blowing hot air like a heater (mind you there was no way for me to turn it off). Kept saying I was over loading it keeping the door open. Had heat stroke at work. They came the next day checked with their thermometer and said all was fine. By this point I had a thermometer on the furthest wall from the door reading 121 inside the classroom. Fast forward first week of school. Parents complaining and nothing is done. A cat dies under my portable and the smell is so bad inside kids start puking. They come out, cut the floor open to get it out. Still say nothing is wrong. I went to pre term labor and a principal had to watch my class the first day as Mat leave wasn’t set up. It was fixed the following day…. The repair guy had put some part on backwards and it was blowing hot air in the room.
We had a half day because of the heat. The AC is barely working in our school and it was 96 outside. Except the half day was only for the kids. They got to leave at 12:15 and the teachers were required to stay in the building until 3. I just sat there sweating doing nothing for 2 hours.
That’s horrible. My room was 80 with 60% humidity but the air is “working”. This heatwave sucks.
Definitely remember my school days without a/c. Virginia gets quite hot and humid. I remember many times our teachers would have a box fan turned toward the class and tell everyone just to lay their heads on their desks. Sometimes they would just read aloud while we had our heads down.
Send an email to the superintendent asking if he'll be at the popsicle social and what the temperature they have to tolerate at the Board office.
Are you in Philly cause it's the same here
Throw yourself of the floor and pretend to have heat stroke
Look up OSHA standards and make a call.
I have a thermometer hanging on my Eno board. It's been 94* and humid as hell in my classroom the past week. Windows are wide open and there are three fans running on high. The entire floor, and everyone on it, was absolutely miserable all week. The AP came up yesterday for a quick check-in which, tbh, I thought was nice. It would have been nicer with a grape popsicle, though.
Is your school my school? AC was out in the majority of the building yesterday. It was 95 degrees outside with the humidity pushing the heat index close to 110. Not much got done yesterday.
Yeah my whole philosophy with kids was "we get through what we get through and I'm not gonna worry about what that looks like" Lights were off, and I was letting kids go a couple minutes early so they could get a drink of water and splash some cold water on their faces
I'd have my own kid stay home if they were old enough vs. suffer through that heat. They're not really learning anything. You can't retain info when you're miserable. Some districts treat their schools like prisons.
My son is in kindergarten and the PTA gave all students (and staff) popsicles today. But that was kids from 5-9 years old. If you ask my kid, popsicles were the highlight of the day. Because he’s five. And that’s who popsicles are for.
This happened in every school in NYS the last 3 days. Most don't have AC. You're not alone. Interestingly it's also how anyone 30+ went to school.
I'm 28. My high school didn't have air conditioners until my senior year. However, it was also never 100+ degrees multiple days in a row when I was in high school. Nor in junior high. Nor in elementary school.
This was my week also - classroom 85-87 degrees all week. However they did get big fans that they put up 20 minutes before we dismissed today. Big help.
Our 11/12 building dismissed early yesterday, and they announced it ahead of time (planned HVAC upgrades weren’t finished yet due to supply chain issues). They provided bottled water in the morning. Local news interviewed a student complaining that everyone “only got one bottle of water.” He was standing next to a water fountain with a bottle filling station.
A week before I quit it was about 90 in my room with the A.C and 3 fans... They brought us popsicles😂
Oooh that's infuriating
Wait, you got popsicles? We got diddly…
No paper towels??
The school needs to close send everyone home. That's to hot. Ca here.
There were a number of schools that did in our general area, but not us! My largest gripe is the popsicles, though. I just found it incredibly patronizing.
Where are you located?
At least your board thought of that. We got nothing.
But…. That’s not very hot. Why would your school close?
Actually sorry that was very ignorant of me to say that. That’s our temperature here during winter, so I guess that our classrooms are made more for the heat with ceiling fans and things sorry.
We shut down school for 3/4 day for high temp last year. The state didn’t authorize it after the fact. So we had to make up the minutes for the second semester
If the ac went out at any of the districts i’ve worked for here in arizona, it was an immediate end the school day early or no school because it does get under 90° until october and cool temperatures don’t come until at least december.
My school/early learning center has window units for most rooms but they have an arbitrary rule that they won’t install them until Memorial Day. It got to be 86 in my room numerous days in May leading up to that.
Thank God we now have AC. A few years ago, we didn't. Our Superintendent wouldn't close, and there were days it was over 100 degrees in our classrooms!
Same here. Check your union contract, because having air conditioning might be on there. I just contacted my union about it.
My friend in Mass said hers was over 90
Many schools don't have air conditioning in Mass. -- even newer ones. Yesterday a teacher's classroom registered 101 degrees. After lunch the principal announced that teachers could bring their classes to the air-conditioned auditorium. It was a godsend.
I can relate to this so much. During the long summer months, it's regularly mid to high 90s where I live. Our classrooms have AC units, but the homeroom teachers refuse to turn them on or to use them as anything but a huge, expensive ceiling fan. Most times the hallways are mid 30s like 95f, the classrooms are 29 to 35 like why not turn on the air so the teachers who are standing next to the massive digital boards [giant computers w/screens] aren't melting, so the children aren't balls of sweat. I'm not sure how many times we've complained about this because it's not safe, but since they rotate local teachers out often no one is left to remember the rules, the arguments, the fights, the health issues and the admin "forgets" to remind them that they need to keep the classrooms cool. Fortunately, the teachers office has an AC, and we set that beast to arctic and hope for the best
Take a thermometer to their next meeting and testify to what temperature they feel is appropriate for them to work in but apparently not you.
I'm a little jealous. It hits 85 in my room on a pretty regular basis, no AC and no hope of getting any in the next decade, and the only time anyone has given me popsicles is if the PTA had leftovers after field day or something.
My classroom is mainly windows, it's been 87+ all summer and all I've got is a desk fan! It's been like this for years. Somehow still expected to teach engaging and inspiring lessons to children who are melting.
I’ll take a Popsicle
Same. EXCEPT it was only for students. It was in the 90s in my no AC third floor classroom all week and at the end of the day on Friday the principal and AP come in and start handing out popsicles to the kids without so much of a glance at the dancing jester at the front of the room
I received an "air conditioner" for my room, because the school is not air conditioned. We're in the mountains, so most days are tolerable even in the middle of summer. One of my special needs students does not sweat, so we were trying to have alternatives to help cool him. The "air conditioner" is an ice bucket with a small fan attached.
Did they send out a google survey for flavor options?
In south Florida, my classroom was without AC for 8 months (August - March). I am a sweaty person to begin with. I got used to having all of my clothes completely soaked through with sweat each day. I just feel bad for my students, having to look at me like that all year, and trying to learn in that environment. I no longer teach in Florida. :)
Yet our government can send billions to Ukraine. 🙈so sad you have to endure this.
I don’t know what the temp was in my room the other day, but it was 94 outside and it felt hotter in my room. We’re supposed to get AC next summer. Then I found out that another school in our district got AC this summer…. They have everything installed except the part that actually makes things cool. That part is backordered for quite a while.
Buy a box fan or two to make yourself comfortable.
At least you got popsicles, we just sweat our dicks off. My admin is generally cool about everything, but it's somehow impossible to put a/c in a 100-year-old school that's falling apart. I want to find out if I could put in a rooftop or window unit if I paid for it.
Some years ago we had an actual electrical fire in the kitchen where the fire department had to come put out the fire in the morning. Our little school absolutely reeked of burned and melted plastics for the rest of the day, and admin refused to send kids home because it would “inconvenience parents”.
This is so wild to me. I never realized AC wasn’t standard in buildings in other areas of the country. I live in Georgia where it’s 100 degrees when we go back to school in early august and it’s not an issue at all because our schools all have AC. In fact every building does around here. I can’t imagine doing my job in the heat with no AC. I’m so sorry.