Extreme Heat in the Buffalo Public Schools!

BPTO applauds the superintendent, Dr. Tonja Williams, for shortening the school week to half days for our elementary and middle school students this week due to the extreme heat wave. As noted, in the District announcement, student safety was of utmost concern. Although we feel these were necessary measures, it left many families scrambling for childcare and it did not include high school students taking exams or the staff.

Classrooms got dangerously hot on Tuesday and Thursday during Regents exams, topping out at 90 or hotter. The promised water stations were at some schools, but not others. Some even complained of having heat exhaustion symptoms, including head ache, nausea, dizziness, weakness, irritability, thirst, heavy sweating, elevated body temperature, decreased urine output, and feeling sick for more than 24 hours after being in these extreme heat conditions. This is even more dangerous and can be deadly for students and staff members with pre-existing conditions! Animal shelters can’t operate with indoor temperatures above 80 by New York State law. Yet our children and school staff are subjected to temperatures well above that.

Numerous studies have been conducted on the im pacts of extreme heat and the data is clear. High tem peratures are connected to poor performance on exams. This may jeopardize a student’s chances of gradu ating on time or even at all.