Philadelphia Summer School Programs Dismiss Early in Heat

by KYW's Mike DeNardo

The extreme heat forced an early dismissal today for 50,000 students in Philadelphia's summer school programs.   And schools will be closing early again tomorrow (Wednesday).

A normal summer school day would end at 2:45pm.  But the dismissal bell rang at 12:30 today, and students left in the midday heat.

At the Bache-Martin Elementary School in Fairmount (above), principal Yvette Duperon says some of the rooms in the 74-year-old building have air conditioning but not all of them.  So, she says, dismissing early is the right thing to do:

"It's not too bad.  But you know, heat is heat.  And like I said, we wouldn't want anybody to suffer from whatever illnesses they might have like asthma or things like that.  So we'd rather be safe than sorry."

A school district spokesman says that only 50 of the 128 buildings used for summer school have air conditioning (see previous story).

(Photo by KYW's Mike DeNardo)