Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

100 Philly schools closing early Tuesday, Wednesday because of heat

Extreme heat will cause 100 schools that lack air conditioning to close three hours early Tuesday and Wednesday. The rest of the district's schools will remain open as usual.

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. speaks at Dunbar Elementary School on the first day of classes for the 2022-23 school year.
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. speaks at Dunbar Elementary School on the first day of classes for the 2022-23 school year.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez

One hundred Philadelphia School District schools will close early Tuesday and Wednesday because of predicted high temperatures, officials announced Monday night.

The schools, all of which lack adequate air-conditioning units to cool all teachers and staff, will close three hours early. After-school and sports activities at those schools will also be canceled.

The rest of the district’s schools will stay open on a normal schedule, as will district offices.

» READ MORE: ‘Our Super Bowl’: It’s the first day for 114,000 Philly students

“We realize that early dismissals, especially those made the day before, can present challenges for many families. Please know that these decisions, which we do not make lightly, are always made with the safety of our students and staff as our top priority,” officials wrote in an email sent to families and school communities.

Superintendent Tony B. Watlington said Monday that more than half of school buildings don’t have rooms for all students and teachers to be “adequately cooled.”

District officials announced in June that going forward, if heat forced closures or early dismissals, only those schools that lack full air-conditioning will close, rather than the whole district.

» READ MORE: When it’s hot, Philly schools will now only close buildings without AC. Here are the ones affected.

The district has 216 schools, but about 300 buildings. Watlington said about 500 new room air-conditioners were installed in schools this summer. The district has about 5,000 classrooms in total.

“We have a lot more planning to do regarding our air-conditioning,” he said. Many schools do not have adequate electrical service to support whole-building cooling.

Monday was the first day of school for 114,000 Philadelphia School District students.

The list of schools closing early is here:

AMY @ James Martin MS
AMY Northwest MS
Arthur, Chester A. ES
Bache-Martin ES
Barton, Clara ES
Blaine, James G. ES
Blankenburg, Rudolph ES
Brown, Henry A. ES
Bryant, William C. ES
Building 21 HS
Casarez, Gloria ES
Castor Gardens MS
Catharine, Joseph W. ES
Central HS
Comegys, Benjamin B. ES
Comly, Watson ES
Cooke, Jay ES
Coppin, Fanny Jackson ES
Crossan, Kennedy C. ES
Day, Anna B. ES
Disston, Hamilton ES
Dobson, James ES
Dunbar, Paul L. ES
Edmonds, Franklin S. ES
Ellwood ES
Emlen, Eleanor C. ES
Fell, D. Newlin ES
Feltonville Arts and Sciences
Finletter School
Fitler Academic Plus ES
Fitzpatrick, A.L. ES
Fox Chase ES
Franklin, Benjamin ES
Franklin, Benjamin HS
Franklin Learning Center HS
Furness, Horace HS
Gideon, Edward ES
Girard Academic Music Program HS
Girard, Stephen ES
Girls HS
Greenberg, Joseph ES call
Harding, Warren G. MS
Harrington, Avery D. ES
Henry, Charles W. ES
Hill-Freedman World Academy MS
Holme, Thomas ES
Hopkinson, Francis ES
Houston, Henry H. ES
Howe, Julia W. ES
Jenks, Abram ES
Jenks Academy for Arts & Sciences ES
Kenderton ES
Key, Francis Scott ES
Kirkbride, Eliza B. ES
Lamberton, Robert E. ES
Lea, Henry C. ES
Lingelbach, Anna L. ES
Loesche, William H. ES
Logan, James ES
Lowell, James R. ES
Ludlow, James R. ES
Marshall, John ES
Marshall, Thurgood
McCloskey, John F. ES
McClure, Alexander K. ES
McMichael, Morton ES
Meredith, William M. ES
Mifflin, Thomas ES
Mitchell ES
Moore, J. Hampton ES
Morris, Robert ES
Morrison, Andrew J. ES
Nebinger, George W. ES
Overbrook ES
Parkway West HS
Patterson, John M. ES
Penn Treaty HS
Pennell, Joseph ES
Pennypacker, Samuel ES
Rhawnhurst ES
Roosevelt, Theodore ES
Rowen, William ES
Roxborough HS
Sayre, William HS
Sharswood, George ES
Shawmont ES
Sheppard, Issac A. ES
Science Leadership Academy @ Beeber HS
South Philadelphia HS
Spring Garden ES
Spruance, Gilbert ES
Sullivan, James J. ES
Taggart, John H. ES
Tilden, William MS
The U School HS
Wagner, Gen. Louis MS
Waring, Laura W. ES
Washington, George HS
Washington, Martha ES
Ziegler, William H. ES