Heat shuts down seven Baltimore-area schools as AC problems persist

At least seven Baltimore-area schools lost class time Friday as air-conditioning problems collided with a Code Red Extreme Heat Alert and a heat index forecast above 100 degrees. For Baltimore City Public Schools, the disruption hit on a regular school day, with the 2025-26 calendar still putting June 12 on the books as a normal day and June 15-16 as recovery days before the last day of school on Tuesday, June 16.

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Taylor declared the heat alert for Thursday, June 11, through Friday, June 12, and the city opened cooling centers as the temperature climbed. City Schools says individual schools can close or dismiss early when bad weather or maintenance problems make conditions unsafe, and its public guidance says schools without air conditioning will close or send students home early on extremely hot days with high humidity.

The latest shutdowns again exposed how uneven cooling remains across the district. City Schools says it cut the number of buildings without air conditioning from 75 in 2017 to 11 by April 2023. A May 2024 update said nine schools were in scheduled or in-progress AC projects, underscoring that the district’s repair list has shrunk but not disappeared. The system also says it is working to install air-conditioning in all district-owned buildings through its capital program and the 21st Century School Buildings Program.

Friday’s closures fit a pattern Baltimore families know well. In May 2022, 31 city schools closed early because they lacked air conditioning, renewing complaints from parents about lost instruction and district priorities. Baltimore County Public Schools completed AC installation in all 200 of its buildings in 2021, a contrast that has left Baltimore City with a starker split between schools that can ride out a heat wave and those that cannot. With the school year ending next week, the district’s next test will come fast: whether the remaining hot days are met with repairs, schedules, and buildings that can stay open, or with more early dismissals that put students back on the sidewalk before summer even begins.