Schools in New York's Capital Region are certainly familiar with snow days, when there's just too much on the ground to get to school safely. But this year, classes are getting underway at a time when the thermometer is hitting 90 degrees.
That's prompting the state's largest teachers union, NYSUT, to renew its call for legislation that would allow schools to declare an emergency because of the heat.
Union President Andy Palotta tells WGY,"you have to take into consideration that the students, staff and the whole learning-environment is being hurt."
Palotta is urging the state legislature to take up the union's bill next year. He predicts passage in the Assembly, but isn't sure about the Republican-controlled Senate.
While he hopes they "catch on," he also laughingly suggests that the Senate move some of its regional offices into non-air conditioned schools. Maybe then, he says, they'd start sweating and realizing they should go along with the idea.
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