Philadelphia schools without air conditioning to dismiss early for rest of the week

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Dozens of Philadelphia schools without air conditioning or otherwise have inadequate cooling will dismiss early for the rest of the week due to the extreme heat, the district announced.

Students in those schools will attend in the morning but will then be released on an early dismissal schedule.

In a statement, the district said it will "continue to expedite the installation of cooling systems, with the goal over time of providing every school with the cooling system needed to eliminate extreme heat as a disrupting factor for in-person learning."

The schools dismissing early this week are:

Allen, Ethan

AMY James Martin

AMY Northwest

Anderson, Marian

Bache-Martin*

Bartram, John

Barton, Clara*

Blaine, James*

Bridesburg

Bridesburg Annex

Brown, Joseph H.

Building 21

Casarez, Gloria

Castor Gardens

Catharine, Joseph*

Cassidy, Lewis

Central HS

Comegys, B.

Comly, Watson

Crossan, Kennedy

Day, Anna*

Disston, Hamilton

Dunbar, Paul

Ellwood*

Emlen, Eleanor*

Fell, D Newlin

Feltonville Intermediate

Finletter, Thomas

Fitler, Edwin

Fitzpatrick, A.*

Fox Chase

Franklin, Ben HS

Franklin S. Edmonds

Furness, Horace

Gideon, Edward*

Girard, Stephen

Harding, Warren

Henry, Charles

Hill-Freedman

Hopkinson, Francis

Houston, Henry

Howe, Julia

Hunter, William

Jenks, Abram

Jenks, John S

Kirkbride, E.*

Lamberton*

Lingelbach, Anna

Locke, Alain

Loesche*

Ludlow, James

Mastbaum

McCloskey, John

McClure, A.*

McMichael, M.*

Meredith, William

Mitchell, Weir

Moore, J. Hampton

Morrison, Andrew J.

MYA

Nebinger, George*

Olney Elementary

OEC Annex

Overbrook ES

Parkway West

Patterson, John*

Penn Treaty

Rhawnhurst*

Roosevelt, T.

Rowen, William

Roxborough HS

Sayre, William

Sharswood, George*

Sheppard, Issac

SLA (BFHS)

South Phila. HS*

Spring Garden

Spruance, Gilbert*

Sullivan, James

Tilden, William

The U School

Wagner, Gen. Louis

Waring, Laura

Washington, Grover

Washington, Martha

Workshop School

(*) Schools have PreK/Head Start on-site.

The school district also says all outdoor athletic activities for Thursday and Friday have been canceled due to the heat.

Students find ways to cool off

The pool at the MLK Rec Center in North Philadelphia is one of four pools staying open during this heat wave.

"I think it's pretty nice since there's a lot of heat. We can come out and go to the pool," said 7th grader, Demarcus Briggs.

It's giving Briggs a few extra days of swimming lessons.

"Yesterday I started doing swimming lessons to focus more on my swimming and I'm getting way better at swimming now," he said.

Schuler, Tustin and the pool at the Samuel Rec center in Port Richmond are staying open through Thursday night.

Even though Friday's temperatures will remain in the 90s, Philadelphia Parks and Rec Commissioner Bill Salvatore says they won't be able to extend the opening because of staffing challenges.

"All these jobs, the pool maintenance, lifeguards, they're seasonal and at some point the season ends. Kids need to go back to school. College students need to go back to college, teachers go back so we're just running out of people," said Salvatore.

The nearly 100 splash pads across the city will stay open through October.

We found families taking advantage of it all in Center City.

"For September it's unusually hot. It's like the hottest day of the summer," said Denise Ranalli of Drexel Hill.

The Samuel Rec Center pool will stay open until September 24 because it's a lifeguard training pool, but Schuler along with Tustin and MLK pools close Thursday at 7 p.m.