How have Oregon and Southwest Washington’s summer school programs been dealing with the record-setting heat wave?

Temperatures across Oregon and Southwest Washington continued to reach the triple digits this week. There’s hope the heat wave will break soon. And though school is out for the summer, some districts are still grappling with dangerous conditions as they offer programs this month.

Earlier this week, Oregon’s largest school district canceled all programs inside buildings that don’t have air conditioning. Portland Public Schools officials said programs — such as the district’s Leap into Ninth Grade for incoming high schoolers — were only allowed to continue at air-conditioned sites. Schools that have been rebuilt or retrofitted with air conditioning include Faubion K-8, Kellogg Middle School and Franklin, Grant, McDaniel and Roosevelt High Schools.

Athletics employees were instructed to exercise discretion when canceling practices based on OSAA guidelines. Schools in Washington have to follow the WIAA policy.

“At such extreme temperatures, it can be very difficult to keep our non-air conditioned buildings cool and safe for staff and students,” Dan Jung, chief operating officer, and Joe Crelier, director of risk management for PPS, wrote in a recent letter to families.

“We also have to consider the fact that many of the buses being used by our summer programs do not have air conditioning,” they said, “and that a large number of students are scheduled to remain at their assigned summer learning sites late into the afternoon when the heat is likely to be at its most severe.”

District-sponsored summer programming resumed in Portland on Wednesday for all sites. Parents are being instructed to use their discretion regarding optional afternoon activities and childcare.

Districts such as Portland have received state funding for summer learning to help bridge academic gaps that have widened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state approved a $30 million investment in such programs during the spring legislative session. Many recipient districts, including Reynolds, Forest Grove and Gresham-Barlow, had to cancel or close programs this week due to the weather.

Conversely, the Hillsboro School District, which also received some of this summer funding, continued its bilingual summer enrichment program and said buses were providing “optional water mist bottles” and water bottles if students didn’t have them.

Some of these programs, including the ones in PPS and Forest Grove, serve students with disabilities who are disproportionately behind. PPS officials said they were not aware of plans to make up the lost learning time, noting the heat wave only canceled two days of instruction. PPS made significant changes to last year’s school calendar to recover days lost due to the Portland teachers’ strike and severe winter weather.

Districts such as North Clackamas tried to strike a balance when dealing with hot conditions this week. NCSD limited its high school summer school credit recovery classes to a half-day on Tuesday and canceled all other student activities. The district continued to offer summer meal services and provided families with a list of resource links for those in need of relief from the heat.

Other districts in the region have been able to avoid issues.

Officials said Bend-La Pine Schools isn’t hosting summer programs in its buildings. However, some community groups lease space for various programs year-round. Officials earlier this week said they weren’t aware of any cancellations of those programs due to the heat.

Officials from Evergreen Public Schools in Washington said they hadn’t heard of any issues with their summer programs due to the heat. Officials in the neighboring Vancouver school district said their schools are closed for the summer, and there are no official athletic practices scheduled, so the warm weather has had little effect.

Oregon’s second-largest district, Salem-Keizer, was able to keep most programs and activities open, with the exception of canceling one evening basketball program at one of the middle schools.

“Many of our academic summer programs are hosted in the morning hours or end in the early afternoon,” said Aaron Harada, director of community relations and communications for Salem-Keizer. “Most of them are also in locations with some level of air conditioning.”

Exposure to extreme weather conditions — including heat and cold — can be harmful to both staff and students.

As climate change accelerates, temperatures are expected to continue rising into the school year. Many schools aren’t prepared. This is critical as research shows repeated or prolonged exposure to extremely hot conditions makes it much harder for students to learn.