CHICAGO (CBS) – Class was back in session for Chicago Public School students on Monday, but it comes as extreme heat is expected to hit the area.

Chicago is expected to see a heat index of over 110 degrees on multiple days this week, making some parents concerned about whether CPS buildings can handle the heat. CBS 2's Charlie De Mar caught up with school and city leaders to learn about their plans to keep kids safe.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and Mayor Brandon Johnson made several stops across the city on Monday, including at Jackie Robinson Elementary School. When it comes to the hot weather the area is expecting, leaders with CPS did not offer any long-term solutions to the infrastructure issue and air conditioning problems within the schools other than to say they hope the heat wave passes quickly.

A new school year brings much excitement and Monday's first day was no different, but a major focus this week will be on the heat. CPS leaders acknowledged that keeping kids cool is a challenge given the aging infrastructure of district buildings.

While Martinez said every classroom has at least a window unit, many of the hallways and interiors of the buildings are not air-conditioned.

In a recent public meeting, various speakers discussed the development and master planning in their community, the differentiation between capital improvements and maintenance, collaboration between entities, and strategies to maximize funding opportunities. This article aims to detail the key conversations from this meeting.
One speaker raised concerns about the lack of master planning within development districts, villages, and town centers. They stated: “We have done a very poor job about master planning.” The speaker suggested a more delineated approach, addressing roadways, water, and sewer. They acknowledged their limited success with small area master plans, expressing uncertainty about future developments.
Another speaker emphasized the relationships they have built and how they tackle planning by absorbing information and making the best plans possible. They mentioned working closely with George Erickson at MetCom and looking forward to a new relationship with Ms. Andre.
 

Student learning and test scores are shown to fall when children are faced with extreme heat, a worrying sign as heat waves and rising temperatures become the norm in the U.S.
This past week, millions of students went back to school, even as the Pacific Northwest faced an unprecedented heat wave that is suspected of killing three people. 
The persistent soaring temperatures, especially in areas unfamiliar with them, disproportionately impact children in rural or low-income areas, where school districts may not have adequate air conditioning.
“My colleagues and I have a couple of studies where we find that hotter temperatures during the school year affect the rate of learning,” said Jisung Park, assistant professor in the Department of Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation.
“When we look at how more days above 85 and more days above 90 in the school year, it affects test scores. We find that it actually reduces the rate of learning,” he added.
 

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - McPherson High School dismissed its students before the lunch hour on Monday due to the HVAC system failing, leading to hot classroom temperatures.

It was the second week of class at the high school where temperatures reached 80 to 90 degrees.

“Well, if its that hot the kids are not going to be paying attention. So, they might as well send them home,” said Karen Martin, who lives in McPherson.

Dr. Shiloh Vincent, superintendent for McPherson Schools, said the HVAC system stopped working overnight and the cooling process to get the classrooms to a normal temperature did not occur. The district said a motor failed on top of the chiller. The part is being shipped overnight.

YOUNGSTOWN — Public schools in Mahoning County have made significant updates to safety and technology as they gear up for the 2023-24 school year.

The Youngstown City School District, for example, has made hefty security improvements since the board of education applied for and received one of Gov. Mike DeWine’s K-12 safety grants.

“Our district already has an extensive security plan, and we saw these funds as an additional avenue to help further enhance security measures,” Stacy Quinones, communications and public relations director, explained.

“The funds were utilized to purchase cameras from Verkada, which builds physical state-of-the-art security systems. That is in conjunction with a cabling project to install the new system properly. East (High School) and Rayen Early College cameras were installed this year. We are currently in the process of installing new cabling and cameras at the remaining locations.”

Building realignment this school year involves Rayen Early College Middle School adjusting to follow the same yearly calendars as both Chaney and East middle schools.

The Youngstown school board and administration had ongoing dialogue regarding overcrowding at Kirkmere Elementary School, Quinones said. The school’s enrollment has exceeded available classroom space, leading to students being transferred to Volney Rogers Elementary at 2400 S. Schenley Ave. for the 2023-24 school year. “The district promptly communicated with families about this change and ensured the movement would be smooth. Transportation was not impacted, and especially the quality of education our scholars will receive just a few minutes’ drive from their previous home school,” Quinones said.

When classes started this week in Florida’s Polk County school district, fourth-grade teacher Emily Heath and her students returned to a sweltering classroom with faulty air conditioning and temperatures in the 80s. 

The heat was hard for Heath’s students to bear, she said. 

"They say, 'It’s too hot in here. I can’t focus. I can’t do my work. My head hurts. I’m sweating. I’m thirsty,'" Heath said.

Even in a state that’s used to hot weather this time of year, "the temperatures that are in these rooms, it’s not safe and it’s not beneficial for the kids," Heath said. 

Teachers unions and educators are sounding the alarm about sweltering conditions in classrooms as the school year kicks off following a summer that wrapped the country in record-setting heat.

The issue of excessive heat in classrooms is not new, as in previous years aging school buildings with inadequate air conditioning have led schools to shut down early and switch to remote learning.

But some educators said the longer periods of hot weather, particularly in places that haven’t historically experienced multiday heat waves coupled with inadequate cooling systems, are making it difficult to teach and are putting students even more at risk.

"Kids and staff and teachers are feeling physically sick and lethargic, and just not being able to have that conducive, exciting learning environment that we should have at the very beginning of the school year," said Stephanie Yocum, president of the Polk Education Association, the teachers union.

Less than a week before the start of the school year, only six public schools have passed the sanitary building code inspection.

The Guam Department of Education announced Talo’fo’fo' Elementary and Tiyan High are the latest schools to pass the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services sanitary inspection. The two schools joined John F. Kennedy High, Inalåhan Elementary, Untalan Middle School and Merizo Martyrs Memorial School in meeting Public Health sanitary building code standards.

On July 24, Public Health increased the number of schools it inspects weekly from one to three by deploying three different teams of inspectors to conduct inspections, based on which facilities GDOE indicates are ready.

Talo’fo’fo' Elementary and Tiyan High were two of three schools up for inspection the week of July 31. GDOE noted Wettengel Elementary was among the scheduled inspections.

The department, however, didn't disclose the status of the inspection for Wettengel Elementary. Wettengel Elementary students were to be hosted at Maria Ulloa Elementary at the start of the new school year, GDOE said Thursday in a news release regarding school schedules.

Because compliance with the sanitary school building code has been pushed back to next school year, GDOE campuses can be opened at the discretion of the superintendent and Public Health.

The San Antonio Independent School District held the first of 14 community meetings on school consolidation Thursday evening at Highlands High School.

Trustee Leticia Ozuna, who represents Highlands on the school board, told attendees that two decades of declining enrollment with minimal school closures has put the district at a crossroads.

According to an analysis by SAISD, only six Texas school districts have more schools than SAISD, even though SAISD has dropped from being the state’s 10th largest district in 2003 to the 24th largest in 2022.

“Those are two trend lines that right now we cannot reconcile. There is no horizon in any kind of future that's going to allow us to reconcile those,” Ozuna said. “This is an important conversation to have, and the time is right.”

SAISD is using the 14 meetings to gather feedback on the criteria it plans to use to decide which schools to close, and where those students should go. The district will hold a second round of community meetings after a preliminary list of school closures is presented to the board on September 18. The board plans to vote on final recommendations for closures on Nov. 13. The district plans to use the spring semester to iron out details for consolidating schools; no schools will be closed before the end of the 2023-2024 school year.

BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – An exceptional assembly of community members, state and local leadership, and members of the Raleigh County Board of Education both past and present came together on Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the brand-new Stratton Elementary School building.

A momentous project which has been ongoing for some time, the state-of-the-art learning facility stands where Cain Memorial Stadium once stood and features school colors from years gone by, including green, blue, and yellow accented walls and furniture as well as pawprint designs throughout the halls featuring the same color aesthetic.

Recently appointed Superintendent of Raleigh County Schools Serena Starcher served as master of ceremonies for the occasion and took time to address those who had gathered for the event.

“Stratton Elementary School is a vision fulfilled for Raleigh County Schools. The school district is thankful for the partnership established with residents of the East Beckley community and those who once walked the halls of Stratton High School,” said Starcher. 

CAPE CHARLES, Va. — For Dianne Davis, opening the front door of the Rosenwald School in Cape Charles is a trip down memory lane.
Davis attended the school from 1956 to 1962.
“I remember just coming with the teachers who are welcoming," Davis said. "I remember Mrs. Alice, who seems to have taught everybody."
She has plenty of memories of her time there and is glad to see the school being renovated.
Project expected to be complete in 2025

Cape Charles Rosenwald SchoolCape Charles Rosenwald School ceilingCape Charles Rosenwald School auditorium floor
By: Colter AnstaettPosted at 6:31 PM, Aug 18, 2023 and last updated 6:31 PM, Aug 18, 2023
CAPE CHARLES, Va. — For Dianne Davis, opening the front door of the Rosenwald School in Cape Charles is a trip down memory lane.
Davis attended the school from 1956 to 1962.
“I remember just coming with the teachers who are welcoming," Davis said. "I remember Mrs. Alice, who seems to have taught everybody."
She has plenty of memories of her time there and is glad to see the school being renovated.
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“It’s something not only for the African Americans, it’s something that will be beneficial for all of us here in the town of Cape Charles, as well as in the community around, because of the fact that they can come and have activities here," Davis said.
The school was built in 1928 for African Americans and was used until 1966, offering first through seventh grade.
The Cape Charles Rosenwald School Restoration Initiative is spearheading the renovation project.
 

As Denver Public Schools students head back to class amid expected outdoor temperatures in the 80s and 90s, 11 more schools will have air conditioning. 

For years, DPS has been chipping away at a long list of schools without cooling. The money to add air conditioning to the 11 schools this summer came from a bond issue passed by Denver voters in 2020. The bond money will also pay for 13 more schools to get air conditioning over the next year. That will leave 31 DPS schools without cooling, according to the district.

Denver frequently sees temperatures in the 90s in August and even September. Last year, more than 30 DPS schools called “heat days” during a streak of hot weather in September. The schools either canceled classes altogether or released students early.

The district has taken other steps to try to prevent students from becoming overheated, lethargic, and even sick in class due to high temperatures. In 2021, the school board voted to push back the first day of school by a week — a schedule DPS maintains today. Most DPS schools start Monday, though some schools that set their own calendars started earlier.

A school facilities plan released by a working group consisting of Hamilton County leaders includes recommendations calling for campus closures and renovations.

The recommendations, unveiled Thursday by Superintendent Justin Robertson and County Mayor Weston Wamp, are part of a two-phase, seven-year plan to update Hamilton County Schools' facilities. It would cost around $200 million.

Over the course of the plan, three new schools would be built, seven schools would be renovated or receive additions, six schools would be closed and three schools would move to new locations. Additional schools would also be modernized or expanded in the latter half of the plan to meet the district's growth and to prioritize efficiency.

"For too many years, I think we've avoided hard decisions in a way that's negatively impacted our kids," Robertson said in an interview. "Whether that's keeping them in a facility that's not adequate or not providing them the opportunities they deserve educationally. While this is a facilities plan, that piece of it increases educational opportunities."

County officials on Thursday unveiled a "bold new plan" for County School facilities that will focus on expansions of some current schools and consolidation of others.
Years 1-3 in the plan include:
- Expand Eastside and East Lake Elementary
- Replace Soddy Daisy Middle School and make a K-12 campus at the campus of Daisy Elementary and Soddy Daisy High School. Daisy Elementary would be dramatically expanded.
- Reinvest in Brainerd High School to make it a middle school/high school and closing Dalewood Middle School.
- Renovate the Gateway Building at the side of Cameron Hill for career and technical education. It was recently acquired from BlueCross for $10 million.
- Build an all-new elementary school in the heart of Hixson at the current Dupont Elementary. Officials said it would involve "consolidating three of the four small, aging schools (Alpine Crest, Dupont, Hixson and Rivermont) into one world class campus."
- Renovate the former Cigna campus across from East Brainerd Elementary into an expansion of that school
 

On Aug. 8, the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools award winners gathered in Washington, D.C, for a ceremony and reception to recognize each school’s commitment to and achievements promoting sustainability practices on their campuses. This annual event is the only dedicated time for honorees to be celebrated on the national stage, and it serves as a platform for the Department of Education to highlight practices and resources other schools across the nation can use to leverage collaboration to create healthy and sustainable schools.
For the first time in many years, the event also included all-day programming during which the honorees could learn from one another. This year, the department honored 26 schools, 11 districts and 4 postsecondary institutions from 18 states. The awards demonstrate that green school practices benefit a range of students, including those in underserved communities; 56% of the honorees' students are considered underserved. Utility cost savings, healthy school practices and future-facing education should be available to all students, and the group of awardees is one indication that the green school movement is making strides toward equity of impact.
Celebrating health and sustainability for students
Keynote speakers addressed honorees at the day’s opening session and later at the award ceremony. These speakers included Cindy Marten, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education; Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; Henry McKoy, director of the Office of State and Community Energy Programs at the U.S. Department of Energy; Janet McCabe, deputy administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and Maggie Thomas, special assistant to the president for climate.
Speakers stressed the administration’s support of the honorees’ work to curb climate impacts, cut costs, support health and wellness, and encourage environmental and sustainability literacy at their schools. Several relayed personal stories about their first childhood memories of connecting with nature or being inspired to care for the environment by a teacher or mentor.
 

SALINAS, Puerto Rico — There was little her family could salvage. Just a few plastic chairs, some photos, her school uniform.

The flooding last fall that devastated the home of Deishangelxa Galarza, a fifth-grader in this coastal area of southern Puerto Rico, also closed her elementary school for three days while the staff cleaned out a foot of muddy water from every first-floor room. Because of the damage to her home, Deishangelxa, pronounced Day-shan-yell-ah, missed two weeks of classes, which upset her.

"School is very important to me because I want to keep studying," she said through a translator last fall. "I want to become a nurse."

For Deishangelxa, it was just the latest interruption in schooling that's been characterized by near-constant disruption. She started kindergarten in 2017, the year Hurricane Maria struck the island. Students missed classes for an average of four months.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Imagine heating and cooling over 14,000 homes every day. That is what Hillsborough County Public Schools does on a daily basis.
They have 29 million square feet of air-conditioned space in their schools, and it's a tough job to keep it cool.
This summer, 14 major construction projects took place to update AC systems throughout Hillsborough County Public Schools. Close to 100 schools’ HVAC systems have been repaired in the past five years.
“Teachers have a very hard job, and it’s a lot harder when it’s warm. For both them and for the kids,” said HCPS Deputy Superintendent of Operations Chris Farkas.
The projects were made possible by the more than $400 million received in referendum funds. In 2018, Hillsborough County voters approved a half-cent sales tax.
However, that is only the tip of the iceberg. Farkas said that's only half the billion dollars worth of maintenance needed.
 

LOCAL NEWS 
Paterson Public School No. 3 abruptly closed after 124-year-old building deemed unsafe
newyork
BY NATALIE DUDDRIDGE
UPDATED ON: AUGUST 17, 2023 / 5:44 PM / CBS NEW YORK

PATERSON, N.J. -- A school in Paterson, New Jersey was abruptly closed until further notice because the building, which is more than 100 years old, was deemed unsafe.
At a school board meeting Wednesday night, it was announced that students and staff at Public School No. 3 would be relocated just weeks before classes start.
Part of the first-floor ceiling collapsed on July 28, according to school officials. No one was hurt, but repairs are needed before anyone can re-enter.
"All I can say right now is that the children will be housed temporarily. We don't know for how long," Superintendent Dr. Laurie Newell said.
The school on Main Street was built in 1899.
Parents are supposed to receive letters letting them know what school their children will go to, but some are worried it will complicate their back-to-school plans.
"They can't go walking because I don't know what school they're going to yet. Over here they can walk," said Solange Miya.
"It absolutely will impact my niece because she goes to that school," said Eddy Galva. "I wandered through the building. The school is not conditions for kids to be there."
 

KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. — Dare County school officials called an emergency meeting on Wednesday to deal with mold issues custodians found in First Flight Elementary and Middle Schools. 
The discovery comes just days before students are expected to return to the classroom, and teachers have already been temporarily moved to First Flight High School as a mold mitigation group works to get rid of the problem.
Dare County Schools Superintendent Stephen Basnight said the mold could be found sporadically throughout the building.
"It was not everywhere, but it was on computer covers, tables, carpets, and furniture," said Basnight. "We want to be transparent about the process, and more than anything, we don't want the mold in the buildings."
Dare school board members believe the mold spread throughout the schools because of an issue with the boilers. This coupled with hot temperatures and high humidity allowed the mold to thrive.
Basnight said their team of custodians tried to take care of the problem on their own, but the mold returned.
"We came in and we tried to clean it -- that was last Thursday -- where we wiped everything down. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we saw some more come back and by Monday we were repeating the same process over and over again."
 

Schools across the country are struggling to install adequate air conditioning amid record heat waves as students return to the classroom.
It's “a real challenge” to install air conditioning units in schools, in part because many buildings are so old, Tom Parent, the executive director of operations for Saint Paul Public Schools in Minnesota, told TODAY's Maggie Vespa.
"It's expensive to get systems that perform to modern expectations," Parent said.
According to a study conducted by the National Council on School Facilities, 41% of schools reported issues with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
The issue is even affecting schools in places like St. Paul, Minnesota, where a more common issue was staying warm amid frigid temperatures — not cool.
Now, Parent says the schools in his state are faced with the daunting task of figuring out how to keep students cool among extreme heat waves made more frequent as a result of the ongoing climate crisis.
"We’re trying to (make sure) that these buildings are relevant and supporting our kids for where education is going," Parent told Vespa.
 

A tornado warning issued for the city of Gainesville a little after midnight Sunday marked the first time a warning had been issued since the FEMA storm shelter addition was added to the front of the Gainesville School. Superintendent Justin Gilmore said that in the event that a tornado warning is issued for the city of Gainesville, the front doors to the school automatically unlock, allowing anyone in the area to go inside the shelter to weather out the storm. “You don’t have to wait for someone to unlock it. It does it automatically. But it has to be a tornado warning issued for Gainesville. It doesn’t unlock when there’s a severe thunderstorm warning or if the tornado warning is issued for Ozark County but in a different town,” Gilmore clarified.