The beginning of this school year has brought many surprises, the most recent being Heat Days, which have definitely been one of the biggest. Due to the major El Ni\u00f1o, a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, these past weeks have brought many shortened half days, or \u201cHeat Days.\u201d These occur when the heat index reaches 87 degrees or higher or there are high temperatures forecasted for more than one day, then a minimum day is declared the night before a Heat Day.<\/p>\n
The week of August 24-28 here at Coronado High School was a blur to some, and the longest week of their lives to others. Every day of that week was declared a Heat Day. Instead of the whole week being declared at once, an email was sent out from CUSD Superintendent Karl Mueller at 5 p.m. the night before every Heat Day, which would inform both staff and students of the executive decision. These Heat Days also led into the week of September 7-11, with more Heat Days being declared. Teachers\u2019 schedules were changed from an 87-minute class, to 55-minute classes. It may seem like a normal class period to some, but with our four-by-four schedule, it ends up making us lose valuable instructional time.<\/p>\n
On these Heat Days, students are released from school at 12:30 p.m., with students without a fourth period being released at 11:30 a.m.. \u201cI love the heat days because they get us out at the perfect time to avoid the super hot temperatures we have had this past month. […] Getting out earlier gives us time to do fun things like go to the beach or spend time with friends, which I think is great for the start of the year where we are all still transitioning into the full school year,\u201d Junior Griffin Hart said. Many students who usually don\u2019t have the desire to be in school were overjoyed every time a \u201cHeat Day\u201d was declared, because it gave them time to hangout with friends instead of being in a classroom in the heat.<\/p>\n
But there are still drawbacks to consider. How does this affect our school? \u201cI understand why we have [Heat Days]. That said, they create a severe disruption to planning, delivery of curriculum, and on top of that, the minutes need to be made up later on in the year which creates further problems down the line. Definitely not an ideal circumstance,\u201d English teacher Joshua Chao said. The loss of instructional time can create challenges that extend beyond the individual Heat Day and affect the rest of the school year.<\/p>\n
Another factor to consider is air conditioning. While some classrooms are air conditioned, such as the 500 Math building, not every classroom has the same conditions. For teachers and students without air conditioning, the heat can make it harder to focus and teach throughout the day. This difference in classrooms, while others may not be affected as much; \u201cIt wasn\u2019t [different]. I mean my room is air conditioned […] It\u2019s pretty much the same,\u201d Math Teacher Nancy McGreevy said.<\/p>\n
Not all students mind the possibility of having to make up the time lost during Heat Days. \u201cI don\u2019t have much of a problem with adding extra hours\/days to our schedule because of heat days. I\u2019d much rather have to stay at school some extra time on a much cooler day than I have to spend a full day in unbearably hot conditions,\u201d Hart said. To some, the benefits of getting out of school early and avoiding the extreme heat outweigh the inconvenience of making up for the lost time later in the school year.<\/p>\n
Heat Days, for students, can mean an early afternoon, more time with friends, and a break from the classroom. \u201cI like heat days because we leave early and I can hangout with my friends for longer, but the downside is that I usually have more work that I didn\u2019t finish in class to do,\u201d Freshman Aubrey Kelleher said.<\/p>\n
But for teachers, they can mean constantly changing lesson plans and loss of instructional time. Considering years past, these lengthy stretches of Heat Days have definitely been a surprise to us here at Coronado. With different classroom conditions and opinions from both students and teachers, Heat Days continue to be a complicated part of the start of the school year. While they provide relief from the heat, they also create challenges that can affect the rest of the school year.<\/p>\n
VOL. 14, NO. 2 – Sept. 16, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The beginning of this school year has brought many surprises, the most recent being Heat Days, which have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[33207,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-467465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-islander_times","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}