No Classes for Schools Without AC on Thursday: BCPS

BALTIMORE, COUNTY, MD — Classes are canceled Thursday for students in the 37 schools that lack air conditioning in Baltimore County, administrators announced Wednesday evening.

"Due to the forecast, all Baltimore County Public Schools non air-conditioned schools will be closed Thursday, Sept. 8," the announcement said.

Classes and after-school activities are canceled at the 37 schools without air-conditioning that day.

The Baltimore County Board of Education voted last month to close schools without air-conditioning if the temperature was to reach 90 degrees on the heat index by 11 a.m.

Thursday's forecast calls for a temperature of 93 degrees on the heat index by 11 a.m., peaking at 100 degrees between 2 and 4 p.m. in Towson, according to the National Weather Service.

Additional days have been built into the school calendar to allow for heat-related closures, according to the board. Superintendent Dallas Dance reportedly said he planned to ask for a state waiver should students in the non air-conditioned schools not meet the Maryland requirement of 180 days of classroom instruction.

This is the third day that Baltimore County students in un-air-conditioned schools will have missed due to heat; their schools were also closed Monday, Aug. 29, and Friday, Aug. 26.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued an executive order last week that schools will start after Labor Day in 2017, in part to ameliorate the situation for students in un-air-conditioned schools.

"Later school starts would allow us to help ensure that students, particularly those in Baltimore County and Baltimore City, are kept out of hot un-air-conditioned classrooms," Hogan said. "A later start date will even prevent Baltimore County, which has unfortunately failed to air-condition its schools, from losing so many days of school due to heat-related closures."

One Baltimore County school board member estimated there were 27,000 students whose schools lacked air-conditioning.

• Heat Policy Changes in Baltimore County Public Schools
• 37 Schools Closed in Baltimore County Friday, Aug. 26, Due to Heat
• Heat Closes Some Schools Monday, Aug. 29: BCPS
• Maryland School Start Date: Governor Orders No School Before Labor Day

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