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Major cities across the country decided to close schools, send students home early, or revert to pandemic-era remote learning in the early days of the new school year, and the Department of Education is blaming climate change.
The decisions in cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cleveland come as heat waves affect regions throughout the country, and it is too hot in some school buildings.
“No one is immune from the impacts of climate change,” a DOE spokesperson told Fox News.
In Philadelphia, more than 100 schools had early dismissals due to the weather. In Baltimore, 14 schools had early dismissals while two closed entirely. San Diego also had early dismissals.
In Cleveland, some schools kept classes in session but switched to remote learning.
“The move, which was made possible by our practice of providing a device to every student in the District, allowed those schools to remain in session and avoid taking a calamity day,” the Cleveland Metropolitan School District said in a statement reported by local Fox8.
The statement added that school district CEO Eric Gordon called to look into the possibility of using federal funding from the American Rescue Plan to get portable air conditioning units for the schools that had gone remote.
As it turns out, the U.S. Department of Education has already addressed the impacts of climate change when it comes to schools, allocating loads of cash for initiatives meant to help the outdoor environment as well as the environment inside school buildings.
That money, however, is not available yet.
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A $500 million grant program through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allows schools to use federal funding “to make energy efficiency, renewable energy, and alternative fueled vehicle upgrades and improvements at public schools.” Among the eligible uses listed by the DOE: heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
Potential grantees had from April 4 to May 18 to respond to the DOE’s request for information, with an estimated application opening date of some time during the fourth quarter of 2022.