At least four Orange County school districts were either completely or mostly without air conditioning, forcing students to sit in nearly triple-digit temperatures during a punishing heat wave Tuesday, officials said.
Temperatures neared 100 degrees Tuesday, the final day of a three-day excessive heat warning issued by the National Weather Service.
Fountain Valley, which one resident said typically hovers around 77 degrees, was expected to reach 93 degrees.
“I think at 3 or 4 it may have touched on 99 (degrees) or hotter. … It’s crushing,” resident Bill Maxson said.
Some students were getting sick, suffering from headaches and vomiting, according to a KTLA viewer. Others had trouble concentrating.
“It was really hot. I just couldn’t take the heat,” said Charlie Crossett, a third-grader at Gisler Elementary in Fountain Valley. “I was even sweating before recess.”
The school enticed students to attend class by offering frozen treats and providing fans, said Charlie’s mother Leslie Crossett.
“A little bit after lunch my brain sort of stopped working, I couldn’t concentrate on things. But I was really impressed with the way everyone handled it,” Crossett said. “The lights were out, the fans were going, everyone had Popsicle mustaches. They were doing the best they can.”
While more than 100 San Diego County schools have opted for a minimum-day schedule during the extreme heat, Fountain Valley School District Superintendent Marc Ecker is interested in finding a long-term solution and wants to know if voters would support a tax to pay for air conditioning systems for the school district.
Installing air systems could cost $7 million in each school and about $25 million for a centralized system, Ecker told the O.C. Register.
The district’s board of trustees on Sept. 4 authorized a poll to see if voters will support a tax to fund cooling systems upgrades.
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