13-08-2025
Northern Colorado school district dismissing early on first day of school as temperatures rise
The Poudre School District has announced plans to release thousands of students early from their first and second days of school this week. PSD, which predominantly serves Fort Collins, will release all elementary and middle school students two hours before regular release in response to warm classrooms.
The district made the announcement two days before classes were set to begin.
The decision comes as Colorado's Front Range is expected to experience heat nearing 100 degrees to end the week.
Mona Burkett spent her day on Tuesday enjoying a Fort Collins park with her grandchildren before they return to school. However, when she learned the kids would need to be picked up two hours early on Thursday and Friday, she said that would be an inconvenience.
"People have to work. It is very difficult to get out early to go get your kids at school," Burkett said.
Luckily for the mother of the children in PSD, Burkett can pick up her grandchildren from school. She said, however, that it will come at the expense of her own plans.
The move by PSD comes as some of the buildings in the district either have insufficient air conditioning or no air conditioning at all.
"Why wouldn't they, in this day and age, not have air conditioning?" Burkett said.
The lack of modern air conditioning standards was a similar concern for Barb Nesbitt, a grandmother of a PSD student in Timnath.
"I am curious as to why there isn't air conditioning in the buildings," Nesbitt said.
While many buildings in the district feature air conditioning, not all do.
All high schools in the district will remain on the regular school schedule because the buildings for the teenagers have air conditioning. However, the excludes Centennial High and Polaris Expeditionary and Poudre Community Academy.
All mountain campus schools will also remain on the regular schedule.
PSD said the decision to cut back school hours for impacted schools came after three criteria were met. Those included three consecutive days over 90 degrees, one day over 95, and a heightened heat risk index.
Nesbitt said she was curious how hot the buildings would get that it would demand classes be adjusted.
"It depends on how hot it gets in the classroom. I suppose if it gets about 75, it may be a little uncomfortable," Nesbitt said.
With the final decision already made, some said their frustrations ultimately come down to a concern with facilities, not with school hour decisions.
"When I was a kid and we didn't have air conditioning, it was what it was," Burkett said. "But not this day and age, they should retrofit them."
