57 Philly schools without air-conditioning will be virtual Wednesday, with hot temperatures expected to continue

With hot temperatures expected to continue for another day, 57 Philadelphia School District schools will pivot to virtual learning on Wednesday.

Just over a quarter of the district’s 216 schools lack adequate cooling. The call was made, deputy superintendent Oz Hill said in a letter sent Tuesday afternoon, “out of an abundance of caution, and in order to ensure the safety of our entire school community.”

Most of the 57 schools sent Chromebooks home with students on Monday. Philadelphia schools were closed Tuesday for election day.

“While the School District of Philadelphia acknowledges that in-person learning is the best option for students, the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and families remains our top priority,” Hill wrote. “In accordance with the District’s Inclement Weather Protocol, we are closely monitoring weather conditions across our region. We will communicate through our standard channels once we’ve determined that date for our return to in-person learning."

The hot-weather call comes a day after Philadelphia Federation of Teachers officials asked the district to consider virtual instruction for Wednesday.

PFT president Arthur Steinberg said in a statement that he was frustrated that the district “chose to keep students and staff in uncomfortable and dangerously hot conditions in schools that lack functional air-conditioning” on Monday.

District officials said temperatures exceeded their 85-degree threshold quicker than expected on Monday.

Steinberg blamed decades of underfunding for the poor state of many old district buildings, which do not have adequate electrical service to accommodate air- conditioning.

“But the district administration is directly responsible for mitigating dangerous conditions inside of school buildings,” Steinberg said.

Schools that are considered adequately cooled will have in-person instruction Wednesday. But many of those schools have window-unit cooling systems, and lack air-conditioners in hallways, gyms, and other common spaces.

The May hot streak is expected to end by Thursday, when temperatures should cool.

Some other area districts also announced plans to shift to virtual instruction.

“The current heat wave has me concerned about the learning environment in our schools for staff and students tomorrow,” Upper Darby superintendent Dan McGarry said in a message to the community Tuesday night, instructing students to have their Chromebooks charged for virtual school Wednesday.

The North Penn School District told families that middle school students could opt for virtual instruction if they preferred Wednesday because of hot temperatures in school buildings.

The Philadelphia schools that will be virtual Wednesday are:

Staff writer Maddie Hanna contributed to this article.