Extreme heat prompts Detroit district to schedule more early dismissals

For the second time in the past three weeks, the Detroit Public Schools Community District will close all in-person schools due to extreme heat. File photo from prior to the pandemic. (Anthony Lanzilote)

The Detroit school district alerted families Monday afternoon that schools will dismiss students early Wednesday through Friday because of forecasts of extreme heat during the second half of the week.

The early dismissals affect all in-person schools. The virtual school will remain open for full days of instruction.

It’s the second such move by the district in recent weeks. Nearly two-thirds of the district’s schools don’t have functioning air conditioning, a deficiency that district officials plan to address in the next several years.

On May 31, as temperatures neared 90 degrees, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti called for a weather-related early dismissal, saying the heat inside classrooms would make teaching and learning more difficult for students and staff.

“Hot classrooms and schools can lead to students overheating, sweating, and generally being irritated,” he said at the time.

This week’s temperatures are expected to peak on Wednesday at around 97,  with humidity making it feel more like 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service, which flagged an “excessive heat watch” in metro Detroit from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning. 

Beyond the early dismissals, Vitti is focusing on a longer-term solution to hot classrooms: The district intends to bring nearly all schools up to date through a $125 million investment that in five years, will provide air conditioning in 95% of school buildings. 

That investment will come from the district’s $700 million facility plan approved by the school board in May.

Janeah Allen, a district parent, had mixed feelings about the decision. She said she graduated high school without “any air conditioning at all” and didn’t feel like hot days stopped her from learning.

But she acknowledged that students with pre-existing conditions may feel uncomfortable in a hot, indoor environment, especially when they’re required to wear masks in school. 

The Latest

Before Thursday’s budget vote, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office and Chicago Public Schools officials tussled for weeks over whether the district should take out a high-cost loan for a pension payment.

Teachers and other school staff will receive annual 3% raises under the new 3-year contract.

President Trump has made targeting protections for LGBTQ students a key part of his second term. Denver Public Schools says it is determining its next steps.

The transit authority has agreed to restore some bus lines that serve students after they were eliminated as part of sweeping transit cuts.

At M.S. 50, educators believe that student debaters make the best arguments when they believe what they’re saying — and it draws on their own experiences.

Renovations to the former Forest Manor Middle School building are part of a new beginning for Andrew J. Brown Academy, which broke ties with a for-profit charter operator last year.