Was It Really 132 Degrees Inside A New Jersey Classroom?

That's just too hot — even for a desert. But 132 degrees in a classroom? That's what an unidentified Paterson, New Jersey, teacher was claiming Tuesday, sending a photo around that claims temperatures hit Sahara-like proportions in the city's School 8.

“There is no way the kids can learn. They are wilting,” the teacher told Daily Voice (see photo and story below).

Coincidentally, Paterson was one of a number of districts that cut short its schedule on Tuesday because of the excessive heat.

Read more: N.J. School Closings/Dismissals List For Tuesday And Wednesday, 6/14/17

Terry Corallo, the district's communication director, said the claim was exaggerated because the thermometer was probably placed in the hot sun by the window.

Corallo said the prevailing temperature in the school was in the 80-degree vicinity. Noting the lack of air conditioning, she said the district did the right thing by cutting its schedule short.

"We did what we were supposed to do," she said.

Walter Drag, a National Weather Service meteorologist, also took issue with the claim that the children had to deal with temperatures that rocketed past 100 degrees. "Forget it," he said. "That's in the sun."

He said the people in the school should go by the temperatures that are not directly in the sun.

Here were some of the high temperatures in New Jersey around 1 p.m.

• Andover Airport: 92
• Mercer County AP: 93
• Sussex Airport: 92
• Teterboro: 94
• Caldwell: 96
• Newark: 97
• Somerville Airport: 94
• Belmar Airport: 93

Patch file photo