High temperatures have caused a west suburban school district to cancel Friday classes in 19 un-air conditioned elementary schools in Naperville, Bolingbrook and Aurora.
As ABC 7 reports, Indian Prairie School District 204 administrators felt the day's expected mid-90s temperatures accompanied with humidity registering heat indices ranging from 100 to 104 in the area would mean that the school buildings would be unbearable for students. Parents were alerted to the news of their children's surprise four-day weekend Thursday.
District spokeswoman Kathryn Birkett explained Thursday to the Daily Herald that the area's warm temperatures, with little relief at night, "will not allow our buildings to sufficiently cool down in time to handle tomorrow’s [Friday's] expected high temperatures."
According to a statement issued by the district, Naperville's YMCA will be offering a special childcare program for parents who were not able to make other, last-minute arrangements on Friday, offering to watch students from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. for a fee of $39 for the day.
The district's other schools and facilities, which are presumably air conditioned, were not affected by the closing announcement.
No school closings due to heat were reported within Chicago's city limits. Earlier this year, parents of students enrolled in summer school courses took issue that Chicago Public Schools students were forced to take the important ISAT test in un-air conditioned, excessively hot schools. A reported 16 percent of CPS schools are not air conditioned.
Photo by bjmcdonald via Flickr.
WATCH parents and students alike react to the news of the closed schools: