Heat wave leaves schools sweltering

Classes are being cancelled as thermostats spike — up to 42 C, in one case reported to the teachers union — in schools without building-wide air conditioning.

At least one high school in Winnipeg and two schools in Norway House have announced early dismissals, citing safety concerns related to a spring heat wave.

“I find it harder to focus when I’m really hot,” said Alison Peters, a Grade 12 student at Kelvin High School.

Alison and Sadie Moch, also a final-year student at the Grade 9-12 school in River Heights, left the building over the lunch hour on Tuesday to seek out air conditioning.

Students and staff feel sticky and uncomfortable, especially on the second floor, because of extreme heat, the duo said.

Both teenagers endorsed the decision school leaders made on Friday to let them and their peers out one hour earlier than scheduled. Sadie said her chemistry lab had reached 30 C ahead of the weekend.

The Winnipeg School Division’s five-year capital plan shows 21 buildings do not have an AC system while 27 others are without cooling technology in at least one wing.

Another 14 schools, including Kelvin, which has an expired chiller system, require replacements for aging infrastructure.

“We all know that our climate is changing and many of our buildings weren’t built with 30 C weather in May in mind, especially some of our old stone buildings,” superintendent Matt Henderson said as he briefed trustees on the temperatures inside inner-city schools on Monday.

Henderson told the board meeting the division’s facilities team has been delivering industrial fans and installing portable AC units where there’s electrical panel room.

The minority of schools are fully air conditioned, he said, noting the division has some of the oldest buildings in the City of Winnipeg. He estimated that equipping all schools with AC would cost close to $200 million.

The board of trustees later passed a motion to write a letter to the education minister “about the dire concerns around heat, specifically in May and June.”

“Students and teachers (are) in learning environments where there actually isn’t learning happening because of the heat,” board chair Kathy Heppner said during the meeting.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society confirmed on Tuesday it had received health and safety reports about Kelvin and Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre in recent days.

The latter, a nursery-to-Grade 12 building attended by roughly 1,300 students in Norway House Cree Nation, dismissed students early on Monday and organized a half day on Tuesday.

“The weather has been extremely hot and uncomfortable for everyone. Closing early allows for the students to receive a half day of instruction… before the hottest part of the day sets upon us,” the school wrote in a memo to parents.

Jack River School, a nearby elementary school that is also run through a partnership between the northern education authority and Frontier School Division, has had similar disruptions.

“We’ve already received reports of classroom temperatures reaching 42 C this year,” said Lillian Klausen, president of the union for roughly 17,000 public school teachers across the province.

Klausen said in a statement that students struggle to concentrate and become lethargic when conditions reach 30 C. If it’s too hot for students to learn, it’s too hot for teachers and other school staff to work, she said.

The union sent a letter to the province calling for “legislative action to establish mandatory minimum and maximum indoor temperature standards in all workplaces.”

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said discussions related to operating schools in extreme heat will be ongoing as Manitoba continues to experience earlier, hotter summers as a result of climate change.

Schmidt said recent learning disruptions are less than ideal, but difficult decisions are required on occasion to protect students.

“Student safety and wellness is always going to be the No. 1 priority,” she said, following an unrelated news conference about a new school construction project in Transcona.

The K-8 building in Devonshire Park is anticipated to open with a modern HVAC system in September 2027.

The minister noted that AC installation in existing buildings competes with other funding priorities, ranging from school staffing and nutrition programs.

“We’re doing our best. This is a matter of priorities — it’s prioritization. Our government’s been really focused on new school build construction. We also know that there is a great need and a lot of catch up (related to) infrastructure renewals,” she said.

Four schools in Frontier have partial AC “due to our aging infrastructure,” chief superintendent Tyson MacGillivray said in an email Tuesday.

MacGillivray said a schoolwide AC system is scheduled to be installed this summer on Norway House Cree Nation.

The superintendent in charge of Kelvin said he’s optimistic a new chiller will be in place within a year.

Henderson’s board office has requested the province approve a new commercial cooling system for the high school as part of its proposal to install a modern gymnasium at 155 Kingsway.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca