SCHOOLS LET OUT EARLY DUE TO HEAT

After a smooth start Wednesday, Cape Girardeau schools generated a little confusion Thursday by dismissing classes early because of the heat.

Classes could be dismissed early again today, depending on temperatures. The decision will be made at midmorning.

If students attend classes at least three hours, the day counts as a full day of school for the school district.

Thursday's decision was made late in the morning, and students were dismissed between noon and 12:45.

Some parents had to make arrangements to get children home or to after-school care. Teachers had to adjust lesson plans for the second day of class.

But Superintendent Dan Tallent said making students and staff remain in sweltering classrooms all afternoon didn't make sense.

He added that decisions to dismiss school early will be made day-by-day basis, and usually will be made by 10:30 a.m.

Thursday morning the temperature in classrooms was 90 degrees with humidity at 70 percent. The heat index in those classrooms was 105 degrees and sure to rise with the afternoon heat.

At noon, the outside air temperature in Cape Girardeau was 86 degrees with humidity at 68 percent.

Although classrooms have fans, Tallent said, at some point the fans circulate hot humid air.

"Safety is not so much a factor in this case," Tallent said. "We could make them stay. But the quality of learning is retarded so much that it's not a benefit to students or staff to stay."

The bright spot, Tallent said, is that soon the district's buildings will be air conditioned.

Currently, Franklin Elementary School and a handful of classrooms at other schools are air conditioned.

But at the end of a construction and renovation project the district is beginning, all classrooms will be air conditioned.