Over one dozen school districts dismissed classes early today over concerns about the heat. Mason City Community School District superintendent Anita Michich says the heat and humidity the last few days has combined to make poor teaching environments.
Micich says the school district has tried its best to cool down the buildings that don’t have air conditioning. She says they’ve opened up the buildings at night and the mornings to try to move air through them, but the heat and humidity since Saturday has heated up the brick buildings and they haven’t been able to cool them back down.
Micich says they closely monitor the temperature inside the buildings to make sure it’s not getting too hot. Michich says when the temperatures get into the 80s and 90s, they’ll have custodians go through the buildings with heat guns to determine what the temperatures are in the classrooms. Micich says cooling down the buildings isn’t as easy as opening up a few windows and turning on lots of fans.
Michich says the custodians have the doors and windows wide open on August mornings, trying to move air through the buildings, but it just doesn’t work when brick buildings hold in the heat so well, and they are working toward getting more air conditioning in the buildings, but are not there yet. Micich says despite school getting out early, athletic teams will continue to practice, but move their practices to later in the day when it is cooler. It’s the second straight day they’ve dismissed early because of the heat.
By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City