Las Vegas teachers weigh in on Rep. Titus' proposal on extreme weather

The Southern Nevada heat that feels like summer well into the fall term makes Alexis Salt’s students aggressive, withdrawn and struggling with pent-up energy when it’s too hot to play outside.

“I have fifth through eighth grade this year, and when my fifth- and sixth-graders cannot go out for recess or P.E., everybody has a bad day,” said Salt, who teaches in North Las Vegas. “Children that age need to burn energy.”

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., listened to educators’ challenges Tuesday in Las Vegas, where she promoted legislation she proposed last month in the House that would expand mitigation measures against extreme heat.

Vicki Kreidel, a Las Vegas elementary school teacher and president of the National Education Association of Southern Nevada, said she sometimes directs overheated children to splash water on their faces to cool down.

“As someone who does lunch duty daily, I see their little red faces coming in every day from recess. These days, some are too hot to even want to eat lunch at all. And the saddest part is, on any given day in CCSD, there are schools without working air conditioning,” she said.

“Every single day, there are students and staff in rooms with temperatures ranging between 80 and 90 degrees. These are rooms where we’re expected to be productive with students.”

The Extreme Weather and Heat Response Modernization Act would empower the Federal Emergency Management Agency to better address extreme heat and to provide communities with more resources, including cooling centers, to keep people safe during extreme heat events. It will also officially define “extreme heat” for government purposes.

Titus, who represents a densely populated district including downtown Las Vegas and the southeast valley, is co-sponsoring the legislation with Rep. Greg Stanton, an Arizona Democrat who previously served as the mayor of Phoenix. Both are familiar with blazing summers.

“How can you learn if you’re suffering from extreme heat?” Titus said.

Salt and Kreidel know that children can’t. Here, triple-digit temperatures generally stretch from May to September, which is summer break and then some; in August, with class back in session, highs can still routinely hit at least 105 degrees.

Salt, who teaches near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue, said some of her students returned to school two weeks ago having never left their houses all summer because in the inner city, they had nowhere to go that wasn’t baking hot. She said they need weeks to resocialize, which impacts learning.

Her own child, who is in high school, has almost fainted waiting for the bus, she said. And when it’s so hot that outdoor activities or sports are canceled, some kids lose the only thing motivating them to come to school.

Kreidel said in classrooms that become stifling when the air conditioning quits, students put their heads down in misery.

“Rarely do I hear about students being sent home. Occasionally, if a whole school goes out,” she said. “But often, they just move them to the school next door and put them in the gymnasium for the whole day, which isn’t productive either.”