Temperatures are scorching. The classrooms are suffocating. And among parents, a popular conversation issue: should I send my children to school?
Health experts have repeatedly noticed that children are more sensitive to extreme heat, and with most schools that face cooling problems, some parents choose to keep their children at home on suffocating days. Some teachers even suggest not officially, pointing out that in the online forums there are little that they can do to keep comfortable children in the classrooms that are not conditioned.
But for many parents, it is not an option.
“I’m definitely worried about them,” said Ottawa’s mother, Katie Gibbs, about her children.
When the temperatures in Ottawa on Monday fired at 35 C (46 with the humidx), Gibbs kept Ben, 9 years old, and Ellie, 5 years at school home. She and her husband have hybrid work models, so with some flexibility and a little free time, Gibbs said she could handle it during the day, although “it was not ideal.”
But with the busiest working days on Tuesday, Gibbs, 41, says that she and her husband had no choice but to send the children to her school in the center of Ottawa, where she says that the director’s office and library are conditioned, but little else. And his son is in a laptop, which is supposed to be air conditioning, he said, but the unit is broken.
“It’s literally an oven. It’s very hot,” Gibbs told CBC News.
“I cannot imagine that there is possibly learning in that type of environment, and there is a real risk of damage.”
Heat Dome hangs on Ontario and Quebec
A heat dome that persists in much of Ontario and Quebec has caused temperatures to rise to the values of the 30s and Humidex rise to the 40s, attracting renewed attention to the cooling challenges facing schools.
For Tuesday, Environment Canada had issued extreme heat alerts for a strip of cities to west of Sault St. Marie, Ontario, to Windsor, Ontario, through the GTA and the East until Ottawa, and even Montreal, Quebec City and Sherbrooke, which.
Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal expect maximum diurnal of 30 to 35 ° C, with humidax values from 40 to 45, according to Environment Canada. Much of Nueva Scotia was also under a warm notice, and the temperature in Halifax is expected to reach 31 C on Tuesday with a humidity close to 40.
Although the Quebec English School boards ended their year on Friday, the French meetings decided to spread this week due to snow -day closures last winter. However, given the extreme heat foreseen for the next few days, “if schools must be closed, do it,” Quebec Bernard Drainville’s Minister of Education on social networks on Sunday said Sunday.
On Monday, several Quebec joints announced that schools would be closed due to extreme heat. (Tuesday was a national holiday in the province).
The Toronto District School Board warned Sunday that, like many of its schools, they are only partially conditioned or have none, “extreme heat will result in uncomfortable conditions.” The Ottawa-Carleton district school board pointed out on its website that “extreme heat can create challenging learning and work conditions for students and personnel.”
In London, Ontario, the School Board of the Thames District of Thames issued a similar warning and, like several other school boards, CBC News, added that it generally does not close its schools during extreme heat.
“This would be a challenging situation for families, which may have difficulty finding last minute child care for their children.”
With the heat waves that begin from May and last until the fall, there is a growing concern about the impact of climate change in the heat of the classroom and the ability to learn.
Dangerous extreme heat for children
Extreme heat is especially dangerous for young children, Health Canada notes, placing them in a higher risk of stroke, heat exhaustion, fainting, swelling of the hands, feet and ankles, heat eruption and muscle cramps.
In April, the Canadian Association for the Health and Environment of Children (CPCHE), a national umbrella group, highlighted the impacts of extreme heat for children on learning environments such as schools. Canadian schools, many of which are aged and lack cooling infrastructure, are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat events, according to the report.
When interior temperatures pass the recommended maximum of 26 C, there are greater health risks, which can affect children quickly, the CPPCHE wrote. And extreme heat amplifies social inequalities, the report explained, with children in underlined communities that often have less access to the air conditioning in school and at home.
“It’s not just about Consuelo,” said the executive director of CPCHE, Erica Phipps, in a press release.
The extreme heat, like what it feels in much of the center of Canada, is more than uncomfortable. It can also be dangerous due to the tension that makes it try to cool in the body.
‘It shouldn’t be ashamed or belittled’
Meanwhile, what parents and teachers measure must take during extreme heat is a popular issue on the Reddit social networks. In the Subnet of the Ontario teachers, some commented that if parents can keep their children at home, they should do so.
“There is almost nothing we can do to feel comfortable and stinks,” wrote a teacher.
Others acknowledged that it is not always possible.
“Not all parents have the option of keeping their children at home and should not be ashamed or belittled to send their child to school (especially if there is brief notification and not enough time to make arrangements),” said a teacher.
“So many parents would love to keep their children at home, but they cannot afford to take a disease day to do it,” added another.
Gibbs, in Ottawa, says that last year, the parent council of their children’s school offered to buy portable air conditioning units for school. The director told them that it was not a viable option, Gibbs said.
He is frustrating, he said, but pointed out that the air conditioning by parents is not the answer, anyway.
“We are in a different climate than we were decades ago when these schools were built. I think at this point we need to have a maximum inner air temperature that is simply not allowed,” Gibbs said.
“The province needs to finance the air conditioning for schools and not let our children cook every June.”
