Students have been back in Denver Public Schools for just two days, but already several schools are curtailing their hours due to high outdoor temperatures and no air conditioning.

At least 14 schools released students early Tuesday as temperatures soared into the high 90s for the second day in a row. Denver hit 99 degrees on Monday, a record for the date.

Schools released early included: 

• Bryant-Webster Dual Language School 
• Carson Elementary 
• Columbine Elementary 
• Cory Elementary 
• Cowell Elementary 
• Godsman Elementary
• Goldrick Elementary 
• McMeen Elementary 
• Polaris Elementary 
• Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy 
• Skinner Middle School 
• Steele Elementary 
• University Park Elementary 

Forty-three of Denver’s approximately 200 schools don’t have air conditioning. It’s a long-running problem that DPS has been trying to solve with voter-approved tax money. Eleven schools got air conditioning this summer thanks to a bond passed by voters in 2020, and 13 more schools are slated to get cooling systems by next year.

“Heat days” are an interim solution. More than 30 DPS schools called heat days last September during a streak of hot weather. The district also pushed back the start of school by a week in 2021 in an attempt to mitigate the high temperatures Denver often experiences in August.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. You can read more at co.chalkbeat.org.