IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT HEAT EXPOSURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITY

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT HEAT EXPOSURE AND SCHOOL ACTIVITY

Dear Lafayette School District Community,

I hope all of you are well - and that opening two weeks of school has been calm, focused, and fun. 

This is a brief note about students’ exposure to heat, how to think about outside time, and when the District will step in to limit students’ outside time.

CDPH has offered updated guidance to schools about heat, which I have linked here. The new color coding relates directly to the National Weather Service’s Heat Risk categories, which are updated continually. The color codes account for multiple factors, such as how much warmer it is than typical temperatures in a specific area, the duration of a heat event, overnight temperatures, and the time of year.

Here are key points from the guidance that we should all take into account as you plan outside time with students:

• Be aware of students in your care who are at higher risk from heat exposure, including students with known medical conditions.
• Hydration is important as the temperature climbs. Water breaks, as well as encouragement and education to stay hydrated, are important.
• Moderate to strenuous activity should be limited as the temperature climbs. as should prolonged exposure to the outdoors.

Although CDPH and the National Weather Service do not make explicit reference to temperatures, broadly speaking, the new guidance corresponds to temperature in this way: