Portland Public Schools to close early on Friday due to ‘extreme heat’

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Portland Public Schools officials announced all of the schools in the district will close early on Friday due to “unusual and extreme heat.”

“After careful review of conditions across our schools, we have made the decision to release all students two hours early tomorrow, Friday, August 29,” said a statement from PPS Operations Team.

The decision was made due to not only the discomfort the heat may cause, but also because of the safety hazard it poses, as well as affecting students’ ability to learn, officials said.

“The decision was not made lightly. Over the past week, our teams have taken every step in our heat mitigation plan — opening windows early, closing blinds to block sunlight, adjusting room assignments, providing hydration, and deploying fans to hot classrooms,” PPS said. “Even with these measures, we have continued to see classrooms that reached unsafe temperatures, and in some cases, both students and staff experienced heat-related illness.”

Officials said PPS teams will work over the long weekend to install additional fans and cooling units, inspect and adjust ventilation and airflow in buildings, identify cooling stations and emergency relief areas at the most heat-impacted schools and explore longer-term fixes, such as implementing reflective window film and increasing shaded areas.

Students should plan to come to school as they normally would on the Tuesday after Labor Day, PPS said. In the meantime, officials said they will continue to monitor temperatures over the weekend and make any additional adjustments as necessary.