Newport schools considering ‘snow days’ for students during heat waves

After an oppressive heat wave left students sweltering in classrooms without air conditioning, a school district in coastal Orange County is considering shortening school days when temperatures climb to intolerable levels.

Parents in Newport Beach and neighboring Costa Mesa will be surveyed to gauge their reaction to putting students on a half-day schedule when temperatures become extreme.

To make up for lost classroom hours, the district would have to lengthen the school year.

Laura Boss, spokeswoman for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, said the half-day sessions would be akin to snow days in other regions of the U.S.

“We’re simply having more hot days than we were five years ago,” said Karen Yelsey, president of the Newport-Mesa school board.

School trustee Katrina Foley, though, said she was opposed to canceling classes because of hot weather. Instead, she suggested that students be moved into air-conditioned locations at the schools when temperatures become excessive.

Though schools in the district are near the ocean, the heat wave earlier this month and in May drove up temperatures even along the beachfront. And most of the schools in the district were built before air conditioning was widely used.

Installing air conditioning at the district’s 26 campuses would cost an estimated $42.5 million. The district also would incur additional energy and maintenance expenses, facilities director Tim Marsh has said.

“It’s not a problem that can be solved in a day by flipping a switch,” Foley said.

Hannah Fry writes for Times Community News.

She can be reached at hannah.fry@latimes.com or @HannahFryTCN