Schools across Arizona are starting back up for the year. Some start this week, while others have already been in class for a few days already. And despite the relative cooldown to start this week, it’s still plenty hot out. And many other parts of the country are still on summer vacation.
Ali Poulos argues lots of schools are unprepared to deal with extreme heat, either inside the classroom or elsewhere on school grounds. Poulos is an associate professor in Arizona State University’s College of Health Solutions.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Ali, schools go into session earlier here than in many other parts of the country. But at the same time, if they waited until after Labor Day, it’s not that much cooler then. So does it make sense that schools start here when much of the rest of the country is still on summer break?
ALI POULOS: It’s a good question, and it’s a complex situation. After Labor Day, generally here in Phoenix, we do see our highest temperatures in the months of July and August. And one thing that starts to happen after Labor Day is that even though we still do in Phoenix get high temperatures during the day, we’ll start to see more cooling overnight…