When it gets warm in classrooms in Detroit, students start experiencing issues with asthma and nosebleeds, and the environment becomes difficult to learn in, said Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the school district’s teachers union. More than 50 percent of the district’s buildings lack air conditioning, and some buildings have classrooms without windows, which makes it tough to circulate air.
The school district — which has about 53,000 students — has dismissed early before because of extreme heat, Wilson-Lumpkins said, and it’s happening more often now because of climate change. Some of those aging buildings are set to be renovated soon. “So, hopefully we’ll see some resolution to this situation,” Wilson-Lumpkins said.
In Grand Rapids, the decision to close early because of extreme heat was unusual, said Matthew Marlow, president of the school district’s teachers union, but the classrooms were getting hot. When school officials canceled classes, Marlow said, he thought it was the right choice. As in Detroit, some of the district’s older buildings don’t have air conditioning. The Grand Rapids school district is in the process of remodeling those older sites.Marlow said Grand Rapids school officials’ decision had little impact on the school calendar, since the district sets aside nine days for inclement weather and hadn’t used them up.