Above, the back view of The Dalles High School. The school is 82 years old, and its last major renovation took place in the mid 1970s. A bond levy that would have constructed a new high school was defeated in November.
Above, the back view of The Dalles High School. The school is 82 years old, and its last major renovation took place in the mid 1970s. A bond levy that would have constructed a new high school was defeated in November.
THE DALLES — Classes at the North Wasco County School District (NWCSD) were cut short this week due to the extreme heat. A notification was sent out to parents and guardians and an announcement was posted to their website that some schools would be operating on “early release” schedules.
Kindergarten through fifth grade students were be on an early release schedule all week, with dismissal at 1:30 p.m. The Dalles High School also released students early at 1:40 p.m. The Dalles Middle School held their normal early release on Wednesday. In the following days their release time is scheduled for 2:50 p.m.
School administrators said the decision to shorten the school day was an easy choice and TDHS principal Kurt Evans said the school district received support from parents and students. The Dalles High does not have a proper HVAC system in place, except in the gym and a few classrooms in the west wing. Evans said there would not be much learning if the students and staff were uncomfortable.
“If it’s 100 degrees outside, it’s 100 degrees inside,” Evans said. Evans met with NWCSD Superintendent Carolyn Bernal on Wednesday and the decision was made to keep the students safe and send them home before temperatures peaked.
High school English teacher Gabe Judah said that having early release for most of the first week of school could affect the coming weeks.
“Teachers are having to push curriculum back a couple days, which makes academic momentum pretty difficult to maintain,” Judah said. “I am sure it makes the transition to full time classes a little easier on the students, but there is a bunch of stuff we teachers have to get through early in the year, and now everything is more complicated.”
Both Evans and Judah agreed that the high school is aging and air conditioning window units just don’t get the job done. Judah gets to school just at 6:15 a.m. and blasts his window unit and starts the pedestal fans. He says it will stay cool until about noon and then the classroom begins to bake.
“Kids are cold in the morning and then too hot in the afternoon,” he said.
The heat also affected athletics. Evans and Jim Taylor are filling for Athletic Director Billy Brost, who is out of the office for a couple weeks, Evans said. The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) has guidelines in place to protect athletes and issued heat index alerts for many schools in Oregon, including The Dalles and Hood River Valley High School. The OSAA defines heat index as: An index that combines air temperature and relative humidity in an attempt to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature; “how hot it feels.” The OSAA recommends that if the heat index is between 95 and 100, schools should consider postponing practice to later in the day and practices are limited to three hours. If it rises above 105, school must stop all outside activity in practice and/or play and stop all inside activity if air conditioning is unavailable.
Evans said they are monitoring the index in anticipation of Friday’s home football game against La Pine High. School admins have stayed in close contact with La Pine School District.
To learn more about the heat index and for the most up to date alerts for schools across Oregon, visit https://www.osaa.org/heat-index.
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