CORONADO -- Students at all campuses in Coronado will be dismissed early Friday as will those at the four National City schools without air conditioning as the late-summer heat wave continues to grip the region.
The heat and humidity prompted Coronado Unified School District Superintendent Jeffrey Felix to order staffers to send students home at 12:30 p.m. for a third consecutive day.
Heat releases in Coronado are based on ambient air temperature, heat index, air pollution standards and other factors as they are reported by the National Weather Service. Many Coronado classrooms lack air conditioning and "occasionally suffer from extreme and unhealthy temperatures," Felix said in a statement posted on the district's website.
In National City, the hot and humid conditions forecast for the day caused administrators to call for a minimum day "in the interest of student safety" at campuses lacking air conditioning.
Students at Las Palmas and John Otis schools will be let out at 1 p.m. Classes at Kimball and Olivewood are scheduled to end at 1:25 p.m., according to the National School District.
Central, El Toyon, Ira Harbinson, Lincoln Acres, Palmer Way and Rancho de la Nacion all have air conditioning and will run on their regular schedule. Schools in the Sweetwater Unified High and San Diego Unified school districts will also follow their regular schedules.
At campuses in the San Diego Unified School District, classes are only shortened in schools without air conditioning in every classroom on days when temperatures of 95 degrees or higher are forecast, the heat index -- how hot it will really feel because of the humidity -- is at least 103 and it is not the first day of a heat wave, according to the district's website. Today's weather does not meet that criteria.
