Eighteen schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) cut classes due to high temperatures on Tuesday.
Northeast Ohio Preparatory School student Kalonie Ferguson attends one of the 16 schools in the district without air conditioning in the buildings.
He said the hot weather made it hard to concentrate in class.
“It makes me very angry. It makes me not be able to learn," Ferguson said. “Please give us air conditioning.”
According to the district’s policy, CMSD schools close if the heat index rises to an unhealthy level.
One mom in the Cleveland Metro area mom, Brittany Hooper, is petitioning for schools to start after Labor Day in hopes the delay would help combat the heat.
"I feel very disappointed when I walk into the building at 8am and myself find it difficult to breath in hot heavy air. It does not make sense to me to cut a child's summer short and force them into buildings that were not meant to hold class in the high August heat."
Christine Fowler-Mack with CMSD says pushing back the start date of classes would interfere with testing days.
“With the testing schedule the way it is in the state of Ohio, having children starting after Labor Day means less instructional days with those students," she said.
Right now, CMSD has seven high schools that operate year-round. Basically, kids are in class for 10 weeks straight and then get a three-week break.
The rest of the schools in CMSD operate more traditionally, starting in mid-August – and Fowler-Mack said she does not anticipate any changes.
