As brutal temperatures creep into the spring and fall, schools in Northeast Ohio still lack the air conditioning they need. In September 2018, near-100°F heat prompted several school districts to cancel classes for days.
No schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District had air conditioning in late September 2017, but all but one stayed open during record-breaking temperatures, even as learning was stifled and teachers reported students falling ill.
“They’re sweating in their rooms and it’s just sad… they’re not learning anything,” a Cleveland Metro School District teacher told News5 at the time. “They’re too hot. I walked through the halls and no classroom is doing anything. The lights are off, the fans are blasting. They have popsicles and cold water, but the kids had to pay 75 cents for a cold water.”
Under Ohio law, the district’s superintendent decides whether or not schools should close during extreme heat days. And while factors like missed learning and working parents’ availability must be considered, extreme temperatures can also be dangerous to students’ health.
“Certainly temperatures in the 90s for a prolonged period of time, like an entire school day, can put kids at stress and risk for heat related illness,” Dr. Jerri Rose, a pediatrician emergency room physician at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, told Fox8 in 2016. “Kids can feel nauseous, headaches, vomiting, even they can be confused, even difficulty thinking.”
Still, upgrading the electrical and plumbing systems that in some school buildings would be necessary to install air conditioning is cost prohibitive. In fact, many school districts across Northeast Ohio are weighing the cost of retrofitting old buildings against constructing entirely new ones.
State Rep. Niraj Antani (Miamisburg), who in 2018 introduced legislation that would require a study of the cost to install air conditioning in every Ohio school, points out that it’s not just an issue during the very beginning and end of the school year.
“Those are the days where they actually close or dismiss early,” he told WOSU in 2019. “Those are not the days where people are coming home with headaches, or struggle taking tests because of the heat.”
Cleveland Metropolitan School District will incur some of the highest cooling costs in the country. To read more about all of Ohio’s schools, check out the Ohio state page.