High temperatures close schools in several US cities

NEW YORK - High heat shut down schools in the US cities of Pittsburgh, Detroit and Grand Rapids on Thursday, forcing students and teachers to stay at home in the face of rising temperatures and inadequate air-conditioning.

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 40 schools in a district with more than 18,000 students shifted to remote learning, citing health concerns about sweltering classrooms, the district announced.

In Detroit, Michigan, the conditions led administrators to close its schools three hours earlier than usual on Thursday, and similar plans were in place for Friday for the city’s 53,000 students.

In Grand Rapids, in western Michigan, home to 17,000 students, administrators cancelled school for the remainder of the week as temperatures climbed to more than 30 deg C on Thursday.

The temperatures in some school buildings were “simply too warm”, said Grand Rapids superintendent of schools Leadriane Roby in a statement.

“That not only makes the learning environment a challenge, but also raises a safety concern,” she said.

Poorly cooled or heated school buildings in the United States are far from a new concern, but they are an intensifying worry as more school districts are grappling with ageing infrastructure and the effects of climate change.

Older buildings often lack central air-conditioning, and even if window air-conditioners are present, they can be ineffective in classrooms packed with dozens of children.

A report in 2020 from the US Government Accountability Office concluded that roughly 41 per cent of school districts need to update or replace heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in at least half of their schools.

Many school districts across the Midwest complete the school year as late as mid-June, making heat a problem in the final weeks of classes.

A high-pressure system over the Great Lakes has been trapping hot air rising from the ground, resulting in temperatures that are around 5.5 deg C to 11 deg C above average.

While there were no immediate reports of students sickened by the heat, administrators said they made the decisions pre-emptively to avoid health issues. In several districts, after-school activities and sports were also cancelled.

In Pittsburgh, free meals were made available for pickup in more than a dozen locations on Thursday and Friday mornings to families that needed them. NYTIMES