The start of the school year was a unique experience for the students at Hoover High School this year. With each day in the first week of school easily reaching 100 degrees. Back to school time can be stressful for people but it can be even more difficult in such intense heat. Making it as comfortable as possible is an important thing for schools to do for their students.
Was Hoover prepared for the difficulties of back to school and intense heat?
“I don’t think they were to be honest. They had to call school off school on the second day, then some rooms don’t even have proper heating. Some rooms will always be super cold, then some will be really hot. Either they don’t want to turn the air conditioning on in some rooms or they don’t have it in some rooms,” senior Jayden Park said.
Students were not the only ones having difficulties with the heat during back to school week. Teachers were also busy working inside of their classrooms and teaching during this intense heat.
“On the really hot days my room was much hotter. I had both fans I have going; I left my door open, and I brought two full water bottles that day. I did not want to become hot and dehydrated while teaching. I packed a cold lunch because I did not want to eat anything hot. I wanted to be as cool as I could be,” third year Spanish teacher Maryim Martinez said.
Dehydration became a high risk in the first week of school. But why is dehydration such a problem? If you are dehydrated for extended periods of time it can lead to serious complications such as kidney failure, seizures, hypovolemic shock, and even death.
The school, however, recently implemented water fountains with new features that can help combat the risk of dehydration. Hoover has replaced the old water fountains with new ones that have water bottle refill stations. It makes it easier to fill water bottles and with it being more convenient it can encourage more people to bring water bottles. But unfortunately it was not a convenient fix all.
But it was not just Hoover having issues with keeping cool. Central was also having problems in its classrooms during the heatwave.
“My classroom in Central has zero ventilation and it got so bad in the room they took one of the industrial sized fans and put it in the door to try and make it cooler, but it did nothing,” senior Alex Reyes said.
Hoover has inconsistent cooling in some places and central in some places doesn’t have any air conditioning. But one of the schools that has it the worst is one with students more susceptible to the intense heat. Meredith Middle School, a school connected directly to the Hoover building, has poor air conditioning.
“It (Meredith) doesn’t have air conditioning and cooling all through the building, only in the classrooms. So, when you open the doors to a classroom up there when it’s really hot the cold and warm air hits making it humid and really sticky. They had to put fans out in the lunchroom to try and help keep it cool for the kids,” custodian Howard Wood said.
So, was the district prepared for this record-breaking heatwave and back to school week?
“No, I don’t think so. I heard some school’s buildings’ air conditioning was not working, the whole bus situation was not good, and then having to last minute call an early out just shows they were not prepared. But I think the district was trying to make it right by having the early out which was the right choice,” Martinez said.
The DMPS school district often says that the safety of students and staff is their number one priority but during heat like this it is difficult to prepare everyone and keep them safe. The schools may have been trying to prepare for the heat, but one crucial part of the school system was a bit behind on preparation. School buses.
“The insulation and windows did absolutely nothing on the buses. The humidity and heat would just stay trapped on the bus no matter what we tried to do to get rid of it. It was so bad riding on it. The heat and humidity was just not a good mix for those buses. I’m glad my first bus ride was I the morning,” Reyes said.
