Heat wave has area school monitoring inside temperatures

AMMON, Idaho (KIFI) - After monitoring classrooms through the day, Bonneville District 93 made a decision Tuesday evening to continue with normal class schedules for Wednesday. They recommend students dress in light and cool clothing to combat the heat.

Part of the issue District 93 is facing is that "Most of our schools, don't have air conditioning except for the brand new high school junior high," Energy Specialist for District 93 Don Trauntvein said.

Trauntvien has been monitoring the situation at the schools very closely, and says the heat has been causing some issues for students and teachers.

"When you start getting room temperatures and you're pushing 75 to 80. Kids don't study. They don't learn. Talk to those teachers, anything and the kids going to sleep. They had kids throwing up in class."

Trauntvein says this happened despite their best efforts to help cool down the buildings at night.

"Ultimately, we're stuck. If it's 60 degrees outside, and we can't get cooling off, that needs to be in the fifties."

With the decision to keep full days for the time being, the district does still have some options if the temperatures inside the school buildings reach or go above the 85 degree Fahrenheit threshold.

"We've got other school districts that are in the area or doing a half days of school. And so that's kind of what I do, thinking if we can't cool things down and maybe we can be out before the heat really gets bad and have the kids out there before lunch or before noon."

Jefferson School District 251 in a Facebook post says they will also continue with full days at least for Wednesday. Parents can find that announcement here.

All of our local school districts will continue to closely monitor the situation and make adjustments as they are needed.