Schools across the Valley beginning high-heat policies

Many feel it’s too early for triple digit heat in the Coachella Valley, but that’s not going to stop Mother Nature.

Temperatures have spiked into the triple digits, which means schools across the Coachella Valley are starting to implement policies regarding high heat days

Triple Digit Heat? Check your First Alert Weather Forecast

The director of student services, Jane Mills, said the Palm Springs Unified School District adopted a specific, heat-related illness policy in 2015.

“It’s important for parents to know that on a site-by-site basis, each principal has a system for managing hot days,” Mills told Kesq News Channel 3’s and CBS Local 2’s Katie Widner.

Mills said the policy includes holding recess indoors on extremely hot days and providing cooling rooms for more manageable conditions. Mills said all of the staff undergo training on how to handle heat-related illness and recieve a daily Heat Index Communication email. She also said, however, that a group effort is required to help children beat the heat, and it is one that starts at home.

“It’s kind of counterintuitive, but to wear a lightweight cotton, long-sleeve shirt would be better than bare arms. But as you sweat, the evaporation from the shirt helps keep you cool,” she said.

Public information officer Mary Perry, of the Desert Sands Unified School District, agrees.

“We highly reccomend, to all of our students, that they come prepared for hot weather,” Perry said.

Perry called refillable water bottles a necessity, and recommends that children wear hats on hot days.

The Coachella Valley Unified School District suggested that parents freeze water bottles overnight, so that they can defrost during the school day. By the time it is ready to drink, the water will be a pleasant temperature, unlike the weather.

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