Schools feeling the heat

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This article was published 12/06/2023 (865 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sweltering school temperatures — some classrooms reached 30 C and above during Manitoba’s latest heat wave — are prompting calls for universal air conditioning and a tipping point for extreme heat closures to protect students and staff.

Last week, Breann Benoit received numerous texts from her teenage daughter complaining about how sweaty and sick she felt at school. A thermostat in the Grade 9 student’s classroom hovered between the high 20s and low 30s. One daytime reading came in at 32.5 C.

“I feel awful and wish I could go pick her up. But it’s such a crucial time of the year right now because her exams start this week and I don’t want her missing any information,” said Benoit, a mother of three in Winnipeg.

Administrators’ efforts to cool down the high school have had limited success, she said, adding the conditions are unsafe for everyone involved. Benoit’s temporary solution has been to promote hydration and fresh air breaks.

Students and school employees across the province have been learning and working in muggy buildings, many of which have no or limited AC, throughout May and June.

Since May 1, Manitoba workplace safety and health has alerted officers of four heat-related reports within the education sector that require further investigation.

Given there are no guidelines for severe weather closures in the spring and summer, unlike wintertime shutdowns, education workers have taken matters into their own hands to keep themselves and the children in their care safe.

High school teacher Cam Bennet dragged a cooler filled with freezies to work last week to increase morale and drop temperatures. Similarly, a colleague purchased ice in bulk to hand out baggies of it.

Elsewhere in their rural building, employees set up fans, including in the vocational school’s garage where a jerry-rigged cooling system was constructed with an old car radiator, cold-water hose and blower.

“It was extremely difficult to get kids to do anything. It was just oppressive. The humidity was so high,” said Bennet, a veteran teacher, who likened his workplace to a rainforest.

Following an afternoon with temperatures hovering around 30 C, more than one of his students fell asleep during the final period of the day.

The rural school’s air conditioning system broke down a month ago, just in time for record-breaking spring temperatures. It was repaired by the end of the week.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society has been fielding countless calls about working conditions.

“I don’t have a magic wand, but the provincial government and school divisions need to work on this (so that) air quality in general is good in schools both in extreme heat in the summer and extreme cold in the winter,” said union leader Nathan Martindale.

Martindale acknowledged the complexity of the issue, given many schools are upwards of 100 years old and cannot be retrofitted with central air conditioning.

Roughly half of the Winnipeg School Division’s facilities are fully air conditioned. Twenty-seven buildings have no AC and 16 have partial AC.

“It was extremely difficult to get kids to do anything. It was just oppressive. The humidity was so high.”–High school teacher Cam Bennet

Just under a quarter of the River East Transcona School Division, the second largest district in the province after WSD, is without coverage.

All but three of Seven Oaks School Division’s K-12 buildings are equipped with AC in every classroom. AC is universal in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division, although a number of buildings are undergoing unit repairs or replacements.

Superintendent Christian Michalik said closing the equity gap in Louis Riel School Division — in which he indicated 11 schools do not have “adequate AC” — will be a priority in the coming years.

Schools built in the ‘70s and in the years since are typically equipped with AC. Many of LRSD’s oldest facilities are in established communities with residents of a lower socio-economic status than elsewhere in the division, he said.

“Learning looks different when you’re dealing with the heat and finding relief…so we know it’s having impacts on learning and well-becoming,” Michalik said.

The division leader noted there are anecdotal reports that local families have been keeping children home in recent days.

“Learning looks different when you’re dealing with the heat and finding relief…so we know it’s having impacts on learning and well-becoming.”–Louis Riel School Division Superintendent Christian Michalik

Manitoba employers are required by law to establish and maintain temperatures that are “appropriate to the nature of the work being done.” Vague workplace safety protocols require divisions to have some protocols and control measures in place to mitigate temperature-related risks for employees.

When a heat warning is in effect, school leaders are expected to remind community members to wear loose and lightweight clothing, organize frequent hydration breaks and monitor for signs of heat stress and exhaustion.

Teachers may be directed to close blinds and open windows, temporarily move instruction outdoors, modify activities and rotate learning spaces to seek respite in areas of a building with high-quality AC.

One elementary teacher in Winnipeg said she was asked to hold recess indoors last week due to concerns about the humidity outside, despite her classroom being equally as hot as the playground.

“I could see sweat dripping off my students’ faces… My students were complaining about experiencing headaches and feeling unwell overall,” said the teacher, who spoke to the Free Press on the condition of anonymity.

While noting in-person learning is ideal, she questioned why remote programming is not being used as a temporary safety measure in schools like hers.

Division leaders can temporarily close a school for any reason that the education minister deems acceptable, including extreme weather, utility failures and other emergencies, said Dana Rudy of Manitoba Education.

The deputy minister of education indicated there have been no reports of heat-related shutdowns in the past and no division has made an inquiry about enacting one so far this year.

“We’re going to be seeing more and more of this with climate change,” Bennet said, reflecting on the recent heat wave and its impact on students and staff alike.

“It’s time. If you don’t have AC, then your building should be closed at ‘such and such temperature,’” he added.

Boards have precise and varying rules around cancelling their bus fleet operations and buildings in extreme cold conditions.

In the Hanover School Division, for example, all schools are closed when Environment Canada’s weather station in Kleefeld indicates it is -35 C or colder, or there is a wind chill of at least -45 C at 6 a.m. on any given instructional day.

Rudy said recent discussions between department and division staff suggest schools know how-to address heat-related concerns and prioritize safety, but she noted policies are always being reviewed.

Manitoba has earmarked $24 million for various heating, ventilation and air conditioning projects in schools in 2023-24.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie