Heat and PSD - Poudre School District

Heat-Related Early Release/Closure Protocol Update

PSD, in partnership with the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment (LCDHE) and members of our teaching, classified, and administrative staff, has developed a protocol for determining when to dismiss students early or not have school on days when high temperatures may impact our students and the staff who support them. This protocol will determine whether to implement a two-hour early release or full heat closure for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and students who attend school in unairconditioned buildings, including Centennial High School, Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, and Poudre Community Academy (PCA).

All four comprehensive high schools, Timnath Middle School High School, Wellington Middle School High School, Poudre Global Academy, and all Transitions Programs will remain in session because these buildings are air conditioned. The Mountain Schools (Livermore, Red Feather, and Stove Prairie) will remain in session and will be monitored for high temperatures.

Heat-related decisions informed by monitoring data sources

Decisions to call for a heat-related two-hour early release or closure will be informed by close monitoring of two data sources:

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Heat & Health Tracker for Larimer County, which is based on the NWS HeatRisk Index
National Weather Service forecast for zip code 80521

Conditions for Early Release or School Closure

If one or more of the following conditions are met, the district will consider calling a two-hour early release or full school closure:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Heat & Health Tracker for Larimer County indicates major or extreme levels of risk of heat-related impacts to individuals. The NWS HeatRisk Index defines major and extreme levels of risk using a color-coded system. Red indicates major risks associated with heat, and magenta indicates extreme risks associated with heat.
HeatRisk Index for Larimer County is Red (3) or Magenta (4) level
National Weather Service forecasted highs of 95°F or above for zip code 80525
National Weather Service forecasted highs of 90°F+ for three consecutive days, including weekends for zip code 80525

Whenever possible, PSD will notify families and staff of a possible early release or closure 12-24 hours in advance of the closure or early release.

Schools impacted by heat-related two-hour early release/closure

All Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Schools
Centennial High School
Polaris Expeditionary Learning School
Poudre Community Academy

What does a two-hour early release due to heat mean for students in grades K-8 at impacted schools and students at Centennial, PCA, Polaris, and in Early Childhood?

Schools start at the normal time.
Breakfast and lunch is served.
Field trips scheduled for the afternoon are canceled.
Students who typically ride the bus home will still do so. Buses will drop students off at their regular stops two hours earlier than usual.
Afternoon Early Childhood sessions are canceled. Full day sessions dismiss two hours early. Morning sessions run at their regularly-scheduled time.
After-school activities, including athletics practices and competitions, at these schools are canceled.

What happens with AlphaBEST on early release or heat-related closure days?

If PSD calls for an early release or heat-related closure, AlphaBEST childcare services will be available at Bacon, Beattie, O'Dea, and Bamford Elementary Schools. Space will be limited and families are encouraged to follow AlphaBEST’s procedures for registering children to use these services during early releases or closures. Families using AlphaBEST childcare services will be responsible for transporting their students to AlphaBEST in the event of an early release or closure. For more information about AlphaBEST services, please contact AlphaBEST directly.

What does a full day closure due to heat mean for students in grades K-8 at impacted schools and students at Centennial, PCA, and Polaris?

Why don't you start later in the year to avoid the heat?

Creating a school year calendar is a complex endeavor and there are many, often competing, interests that impact it. There are a variety of factors that influence PSD’s calendar each year. These include state requirements for the number of minutes and days that students are to be in school as well as high school student participation in concurrent and dual enrollment opportunities with local higher education partners. Alignment with the calendars of these two and four year colleges is necessary to allow high school students to take college courses, which is an important part of the district’s commitment to ensuring students have opportunities to pursue their passions and interests while preparing for their post-secondary futures. The PSD calendar also takes into account the timing of national Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. We are committed to continuing to explore options for potentially beginning and ending the school year later for elementary schools and middle schools in future school years.

Why don’t all PSD schools have AC by now, since the Mill Levy was passed to address this?

The 2024 Debt-Free Mill Levy is having a tremendous impact on the district’s ability to install air conditioning at the schools that do not already have it. Two new school AC systems have been completed so far, and two are underway. That said, we have more than 30 schools without air conditioning and only about 10 weeks each summer to complete installations. This means that we cannot complete air conditioning installation in all buildings in a single year. We are working as quickly as we can to install air conditioning in all buildings.

Schools remaining in session during heat-related early release/closure

Fort Collins, Fossil Ridge, Poudre, and Rocky Mountain High Schools
Timnath and Wellington Middle-High Schools (Grades 6–12)
Poudre Global Academy
Career Tech Center
Transitions programs
Mountain schools (Livermore, Red Feather, Stove Prairie) — these will be monitored but will remain in session unless otherwise noted.

What does a two-hour early release or full-day closure due to heat mean for students who attend FCHS, FRHS, PHS, RMHS, TMHS, WMHS, PGA, and the Transitions Programs?

Schools operate normally.
High school after school activities, including athletics, and competitions for high school students will continue. Middle School after school activities, including athletics, and competitions will be canceled.
- Schools may make a determination to move extracurricular activities to mornings or later in the evenings, depending on the availability of club or activity sponsors.
- Coaches may also make modifications to outdoor practices and competitions based on air quality guidance provided by the Colorado High School Sports Association. CHSAA recommends organizers consider canceling, postponing, or moving outdoor events indoors or moving them to an area with “good” air quality if the Air Quality Index is 151 or higher. PSD Athletics will also monitor the Wet Globe Temperature in alignment with CHSAA recommendations and notify schools if after school practices and activities need to be canceled.
- At TMHS and WMHS, all middle school after school activities, including athletics, and competitions will be canceled.

Why is PSD considering early release or heat-related closures for some schools but not others?

Most of our schools do not have air conditioning. Some only have air conditioning in certain spaces like computer labs or media centers.
The district is taking all possible steps to cool our buildings, including drawing more cool air in through school doors and ventilation systems early in the morning and providing fans in hallways and every classroom. These measures are not always enough to maintain safe temperatures.
We also believe that, whenever possible, our students should be in school. Some of our schools have air conditioning and can continue to operate normally during instances of high temperatures.

Why do heat days apply so some schools that DO have AC?

Heat Resistant Practices at PSD

Carpentry

Film
- Tinted film has been added at several locations such as Preston Middle School's east facing main hall bridges, Fort Collins High School's south facing windows, and the monitor glass at the Delaney sites.
- In some cases reflective film on windows was requested and denied as it affects the thermal pane balance (the operation of the window).

Shades/blinds
- Added in the east hall windows at Preston.
- Installation of a 1% shade material instead of district standard 3% in two south facing classrooms at Webber Middle School to reduce heat passage.
- Other blinds-related solutions were done in classrooms in several schools.

Construction

Past strategies
- Utilizing outside air and flushing the building with large fans and/or BAS manipulation. The “hottest” schools are the 1960-1990 builds in which the exterior building thermal envelope is typically constructed with non-insulated masonry walls with single panel windows
- Most HVAC renovations in the older schools included glazing replacement with insulated window units (Lesher and Putnam Middle Schools, Barton Early Childhood Center, Dunn Elementary School). Window film was explored but it did not provide much relief. In the “Delaney models.” reflective tinting was added to the monitors.

Building Automation

Run HVAC at full outside fresh air intake in buildings from 1 to 3 a.m. to bring in cool night air
Change room set points to allow the room to sub cool (avoiding the mixing of warmer air with cooler air from the dampers)
Use morning cool down modes (continuing to bring in cooler air as long as the temps support it)
Turn certain equipment off during the heat of the day (gym air ex.) equipment that has zero cooling impact but could accidentally cause warm air to be drawn into the building.
Shutting the system off has always been the best – stale cool air vs warmer moving air, in terms of the temperature. This allows occupants to move air with stationary fans.

Custodial Efforts

Place large fans to push air through the building; supervisors work with head custodians to identify the best placement to maximize air circulation without impeding the ventilation system.
Open windows and doors early morning when possible and safe to do so to allow morning cool air in; once students arrive in the building, doors are closed following Security protocols.
Leave windows on second story/third story windows open overnight to allow cool air in throughout the night/early morning.
Keep window shades closed.
Report HVAC problems promptly.
Box fans were delivered to schools as requested.