BOE Roundup: Improved Heat Management System to Prevent Kids from Getting Sick

The Board of Education discussed better solutions for heat management in the gymnasiums at elementary schools Monday evening because of an incident on a scorching hot day last week at that left kids sick and dizzy from dehydration and sent to the hospital in ambulances.

After thorough investigation, Superintendent of schools Dr. William Johnson said it was most likely the particular sequence of events that day that caused the children to be sick.

“Beginning with lunch in the auditorium, what we served the kids, the fact that they were out on the playground afterwards…and returning to warm classrooms,” Johnson said. “In the gym, some of the kids were on the stage, which appeared to be warmer than in fact the auditorium and then standing on the risers.”

Johnson also said hydration was definitely an issue and that the kids weren’t consuming enough water in between and during activities.

“There is no question that it was all heat related and that heat was the trigger,” Johnson said. “What we need to do is then go back and make sure that those sequence of events never occur again and that on a day when there is a heat problem, that we manage the time of all of our kids where they’re scheduled and assigned a little bit differently — and we intend to do that.”

It was also noted that although school officials should have notified parents about the incident earlier instead of the following day, the kids were taken to a safe, cool area where the ambulances were easily accessible and were given immediate medical attention.

“The real problem was that parents were arriving pretty much at the same time as the ambulances…were not provided information,” Johnson said. “Most of the focus was on the children themselves, but looking back on it, it probably would have been a very good idea to inform the parents who were showing up to the building that the children were OK.”

The board decided that all nurses should have radios in order to respond to a sick child, thermometers and large fans will be put in every building and foods with high water content, such as salad and fruit, will be served on very hot school days.

“There were a number of things that we could have done better and I intend to do better the next time around,” Johnson said.