High temps, hot classrooms: We have to do better for NY students in extreme heat

This week ushers in the first day of summer, and with it, the first heat wave of 2024. A heat wave is defined as a temperature of 90 degrees or higher for at least three days, and from the looks of things, we’re in for one.

Like a lot of us, I’ve been reading through the articles, and spent time going through city and state websites urging New Yorkers to prepare for the extreme heat. State agencies are preparing to help those in need, because heat as intense as what we’ll face over the next few days can have serious health and safety implications. The CDC reports that 1,220 individuals are killed every year as a result of extreme heat, with the elderly and children being the most at risk.

Communities across New York are taking precautions — ensuring that people are aware of nearby resources where they can go to cool off — libraries and shopping malls. Knowing power grids will likely be taxed in the next few days, utility companies are letting people know who to call if their power goes out, and city agencies are reminding people to watch out for signs of heat exhaustion.

But as I have been looking through the extensive guidance, I’ve noticed a significant oversight — schools. There’s no information about what is being done for the children, faculty and staff in school buildings across the state to prepare for what promises to be a truly scorching week.

The biological systems of children are still under development, and are less able to regulate body temperature and release heat through sweating. Children are often not empowered to seek out cooler environments or get water to drink without express permission from adults in school, which can make it hard to adequately address the heat. New York State has long imposed a minimum temperature in schools to keep buildings warm during cold East Coast winters, but has never had a statutory limit on maximum temperatures.

Until now.

There is a bill currently sitting on Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk, waiting to be signed, that would do just that.

This bill, S.3397A/A.9011A, establishes a maximum temperature in school buildings and indoor facilities, and requires schools take affirmative steps to cool classrooms once they reach 82 degrees; if a room reaches 88 degrees, the space is deemed too hot to continue occupying. This bill passed both the Senate and the Assembly earlier this month with bipartisan support.

Critics of this legislation will sometimes characterize the idea of air conditioning in school as a nicety, and this bill as mandating a luxury. But, as temperatures climb into the triple digits this week, and children sit in classrooms in which their attendance is legally required, we have to ask ourselves: what do we gain by burying our heads in the sand? What do we accomplish by ignoring the pleas of educators begging for our help? We can not continue to turn a blind eye to young New Yorkers who spend their days within the walls of our schools. New York has a law for a maximum allowable temperature for animal shelters which begs the question: Why are we better protecting dogs and cats from extreme heat than our own children?

The science is unassailable — the planet is warming, and the summers are growing hotter every year. Many New York schools were not built for the temperatures of 2024 in mind, and we must address this issue with the same collective concern with which we tackled lead paint and asbestos. That it might require a paradigm shift for some doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. It is our responsibility to protect our children, and it is not a luxury to be safe in a learning environment, and for that environment to be conducive to learning.

The research is clear — when classrooms are too hot, students can’t learn and teachers can’t teach. 2023 was the hottest year on record. This year is shaping up to be hotter still. I don’t want to look back in a decade and wish we had done something sooner. The time to protect our children and educators from extreme heat is now: With dangerously high temperatures in New York, this week would be the perfect opportunity for the Governor to sign this critical legislation.

State Sen. James Skoufis, a Democrat, represents the 42nd District.