Hot classrooms have P.E.I. teachers' union urging province to take chilling actions

It didn't take long for Prince Edward Island to switch from sweater weather to sweaty weather this spring. 

Many Island schools that have never had air conditioning became mini saunas as the high temperatures really set in with the start of June, some teachers and students say. 

"Some classrooms don't have fans… Even with the windows open, it just gets really hot," said Charlottetown student Joey Ho. "Sometimes I get headaches because of how hot it is." 

"Sometimes I get too hot and I just ask to go on walks and miss like half of the class because it's just too hot. I can't handle it in there," said Emilio Hernandez. Asking for a bathroom break, the high school student said, he will "just go on a walk and refresh myself and come back."

"It gets to a point where you're sitting down and you're really uncomfortable because you're sweating," agreed Mohammad Arif.

The P.E.I. Teachers' Federation has been feeling the heat too, so much so that it has come up with a multi-year plan that it wants the province to adopt to make the shoulder months of June and September more bearable. 

"As climate changes and days get hotter and hotter and more days are hotter and hotter, we need to look forward to the future and say: When is it too hot? When is the heat in the school just too much for the students and the staff to bear?" said federation president Andy Doran. 

Environment Canada data show temperatures in June have been above historical averages in six of the last 10 years.

That's part of the reason why the union would like to see a policy in place within the next six months that sets out what will be done when classrooms and offices are too hot. In addition, it is asking the province to:

Doran has vivid memories of 2021, when classes were in session while the humidex on P.E.I. reached around 40 C. 

"Teachers were phoning the federation looking for guidance on what to do. Kids were feeling ill. Staff were feeling ill, and that's where we got this whole idea of 'we need to get something put in place,' because there's more and more of these days every year."

To illustrate the need for such a policy, the union asked teachers across the province to send in photos of thermometers in their classrooms this week. Some displayed readings as high as 31 C.

The federation also asked MLAs to visit local schools to feel the heat for themselves.