Support Custodial Teams Against Extreme Heat Threats

Key Takeaways:
• Record-breaking extreme heat at the onset of the 2026-2027 academic year highlights an urgent need for facility cleaning managers to adapt operational schedules.
• Inadequate cooling and indoor temperatures are driving commercial cleaning teams to implement rapid heat emergency plans to safeguard indoor environmental quality.
• Severe heat index spikes indicate facility cleaning managers should prioritize products that help mitigate heat-related maintenance bottlenecks.

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As students returned to classrooms for the 2026-2027 school year, many schools across the United States found themselves encountering an increasingly disruptive challenge: extreme heat.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2026 was the warmest summer on record for the contiguous United States. Temperatures exceeded the previous records, set in 1936 and 2021, by 0.4°F. This extreme heat continued into September and has impacted students, staff, and building personnel nationwide, resulting in reports of classroom temperatures exceeding 90°F, early dismissals, schedule changes, shifts to remote learning, and school closures.

In Philadelphia, 52 schools dismissed students early on September 3, 2026, because of extreme heat and inadequate cooling. In Milwaukee, public schools closed on September 2, 2026—just one day after students returned for the new school year—due to rising temperatures and a lack of air conditioning. Similarly, teachers in Santa Barbara, California, reported classroom temperatures exceeding 90°F, and began advocating for the development of a heat emergency plan.

Heat disruptions extended beyond classrooms and into building operations. In Wilson County, Tennessee, school officials canceled classes on September 4, 2026, citing extreme temperatures and heat indexes that posed concerns for students and transportation employees who spend extended periods of time on school buses.

Operational Impacts

These incidents illustrate the growing challenge of extreme weather patterns impacting school operations. According to research from UndauntedK12, extreme weather disrupted schooling for more than 9 million U.S. students during the 2024-2025 academic year. This includes interruptions caused by heat waves, flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires, and demonstrates the increasingly complex range of weather-related challenges school districts must prepare for and manage.

For school facilities teams, these operational obstacles require significant financial investment to mitigate. A 2020 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that 41 percent of public school districts needed to update or replace HVAC systems in at least half of their schools, representing approximately 36,000 schools nationwide. In addition, a September 2026 GAO report found that approximately 2 million students experienced school cancellations because of facility-related issues—extreme building temperatures among the leading causes—during the 2024-2025 school year.

These findings reinforce the importance of maintaining safe, healthy indoor environments. For facility cleaning directors managing aging infrastructure, implementing immediate operational responses on high-heat days is essential, as is addressing longer-term facility upgrades and modernizations to heating and cooling infrastructure.

Workplace Well-being

Discussions about extreme heat in schools mainly focus on students and their ability to learn. However, schools are also workplaces. Teachers, custodians, maintenance technicians, foodservice employees, and other school personnel spend their workdays in these same buildings, often arriving on-site before students and staying late after students leave.

Extreme heat risks are amplified for frontline teams given the nature of their work. Cleaning floors, moving furniture, hauling trash, and performing other physically demanding cleaning activities can put strain on the body. When these tasks take place in overheated classroom spaces, custodial closets, or other poorly ventilated spaces, these personnel may face additional heat-related health risks.

For school districts, protecting employees requires considering how extreme heat affects the entire workday. Custodial teams may need modified cleaning schedules, additional breaks, access to cooled recovery areas, or adjustments to strenuous tasks. Employees should also understand how to report unsafe conditions and recognize symptoms of heat-related illness.

Established heat-relief strategies, such as early dismissal or school closures, do not necessarily mean all employees are able to leave the building. Some essential personnel may still be expected to work, including frontline teams. For districts developing longer-term strategies—like a heat response plan—it is critical to account for the conditions students and staff encounter. This includes building areas not normally occupied by students, as well as hours where only staff are present.

Proactive Planning

One contribution custodial teams can make to extreme heat preparedness is helping facilities leaders understand where and when buildings become dangerously hot. These staff members have a unique perspective on school facilities. Their daily responsibilities take them throughout all building environments—restrooms, cafeterias, etc. They may be the first employees to notice that a classroom is consistently hot or that an area becomes uncomfortable at a predictable time each afternoon.

This data can become an important part of a district’s heat response strategy. For example, incorporating temperature monitoring into existing routines could enable custodial teams to identify recurring problems. The results could help facility cleaning managers make more informed decisions about how to use available space and shift operations on high-heat days.

Beyond supporting immediate operational decisions, consistent temperature monitoring can also help school districts make a stronger case for infrastructure improvements, prioritize maintenance and modernization investments, and demonstrate the operational consequences of deferred maintenance.

Maintaining healthy school environments requires protecting everyone who occupies them, including custodial professionals whose work makes each school day healthier and safer.

Sara Porter has worked with Healthy Schools Campaign for more than 15 years. She currently serves as Director of Healthy Green Schools & Colleges, a program that helps K-12 and higher education institutions identify and implement low- and no-cost measures that improve indoor air quality, among other initiatives. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from DePaul University.