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Scranton students sent home early due to the heat

It's the first week of school for students in Scranton, but they're still getting a taste of summer with early dismissals because of the heat.

SCRANTON, Pa. — For the second day in a row, Scranton School District officials made the call to dismiss students early because of the high temperatures. Only half of the district's 16 buildings have sufficient air conditioning.

Acting Superintendent Patrick Laffey says over the weekend, temperature sensors were placed inside some of the schools to check heat and humidity levels.

"Based off of some of where those targets were hitting—in and upwards of the high 80s to low 90s—we felt it would be better for the safety and health of our students to schedule these early dismissals," Laffey said.

We found parents and family members waiting for students outside John Whittier Elementary School on Orchard Street. Most said it's a bit of an inconvenience, but understand why district officials sent kids home.

"When I went to school, they didn't do that. You were there," Dan Tomlinson said. "This one is air conditioned but some of them aren't."

"You don't get anything done. You have a couple hours, maybe two hours, to get situated, and then you're back again. But it's better than them getting sick. Yesterday, when they got out, they were thrilled because they were in the pool all day," Mary Jo White said.

Laffey says in those buildings without air conditioning, opening windows or installing temporary units isn't a permanent fix.

"Those are ongoing projects that we're working on. We were able to use some of our federal stimulus funding to help offset. The plan after that, more discussions will need to occur because we don't see this issue going away."

So what will some kids do on a half day in the heat?

"We're just going to go home," Justin Jimenez said. "He's probably going to take a nap, eat and play."

District officials say they will continue to monitor the weather and will let parents know as soon as possible of any changes to the school schedule.

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