the school year as long as students

the school year as long as students are in the buildings.

“I just wish they had come to me first,” he said.

Dr. Gangel said the offices have air-conditioning because many of the people who work in them, work 12 months per year and because they have computer equipment in them.

The classrooms that are used as computer labs will continue to be airconditioned.

He and assistant superintendent Robert Chappell did not have much opportunity to er\joy their air-conditioned office. They spent their days monitoring the temperature in the classrooms closely. They also contacted other school systems and knew that many of them had dismissed school early.

He said three of the elementary school classrooms and two in the high school had temperatures Thursday afternoon over 90 degrees. He said there was no set temperature in the classrooms that would cause him to decide to close school early, but that they were watching the students for excessive perspiration and they were watching for any increase in the number of students asking to leave because of sickness.

“Every school building is different,” he said. “Some counties have two-story buildings, and the second story is terrible. Most of our children have homes that are equally warm. Approximately 77 percent of our parents work. There may not be anyone at home, if we release the children. By releasing early, we may be releasing some children into an unsafe environment. We have asked the teachers, especially the physical education teachers, to keep the activity level down. We’re asking the cafeterias to serve cooler lunches.”

Early Friday morning, Dr. Gangel decided to release school at 12:30 p.m. He said he had the custodians in the schools overnight and they opened every window and door and kept fans running to cool the buildings down.

THINK OF IT AS

A STIHL CHAIN SAW

FOR WEEDS.

MID-SEASON SALE

./rv