CDC issues new eviction ban for most of US through Oct. 3

[BumRushDaShow]

14. I never understood the starting back up before Labor Day thing either

and we never did that here, but the current superintendent (who was originally from MD, so I guess since that is below the Mason-Dixon line, is considered "the south" ) was the one pushing it.

The reasoning was so that they could end the school year "earlier" (kids were normally were out by about the 3rd week of June). And the very first time he and the then School Reform Commission (now disbanded) finally got their way, the schools ended up having to close just noon because most of them had no air-conditioning A large number of those schools were built in the early 1900s (from the early teens to the early-mid 30s under Roosevelt's WPA). It was a mess because the superintendent had a fantasy that a majority of the schools had some kind of AC and his numbers were reverse of the reality.

Philly schools suffer in heat wave

Philadelphia School District said it would again dismiss students at 1 p.m. on Thursday and cancel all after-school activities.


by Robert Moran
Published Aug 29, 2018

A Northeast High School teacher was taken to a hospital and "numerous students" fell ill because of the heat on Wednesday, the third day of 90-plus temperatures gripping the region and the first week of the new schedule of pre-Labor Day classes for the School District.With no immediate relief in the forecast, the district said it would again dismiss students at 1 p.m. Thursday and cancel all after-school activities. In an email to some fellow staffers at Northeast High School, principal Omar F. Crowder said, "We had a teacher who was taken out of the school by ambulance due to heat-related sickness this morning." Crowder added that "numerous students" also fell ill due to the heat.

(snip)

In a statement, the district conceded that this week has been miserable. "As heat builds during the day, buildings are experiencing uncomfortable conditions. Because temperatures are remaining high into the evening, many buildings are not cooling overnight," the statement read. "Only 27 percent of the district's school buildings have central air-conditioning."

(snip)

In a Wednesday letter to Hite, State Rep. Rosita C. Youngblood (D., Phila.) said she had become "increasingly worried about the students" in the district and their instructional time during the heat wave. Youngblood asked Hite to list how many district buildings have air-cooling systems, noting that Hite had said in a recent television appearance that the number was more than 60 percent, but that a recent news report said the figure, according to the district, was only 40 percent.

Whack said 59 school buildings — 27 percent of the district's total — have central air. Some of the others are cooled with window or wall units, while others only have fans.

(snip)

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/breaking/philly-schools-suffer-in-heat-wave-20180829.html

They spent the past couple years installing window units in many of the schools and are now supposed to be adding air purifiers for every classroom for COVID mitigation. I think the air purifiers will really help for other things in those old buildings that have poor ventilation, including mold that is a big problem due to roof and pipe leaks.