Most of Maine was under a sweeping heat advisory on Monday that stretched from Portland up into northern reaches of the state.
The early June blast of heat forced some school systems to call for remote learning or early dismissal.
“Overnight temperatures did not drop to a leave we could cool down the buildings,” said RSU 14 Superintendent Christopher Howell during an interview with NECN at his office in Windham, explaining that he called for early dismissals in the schools he oversees beginning at 11:30 a.m. because of the heat.
“We have only one building in the district that’s fully climate controlled,” he added.
A similar move was made for similar reasons by the interim superintendent of schools in Bangor, Dr. Kathy Harris-Smedberg.
“This isn’t something I would do on a regular basis, it’s kind of a confluence of all the things we have at once,” she said, adding that she thought, “If the students didn’t have to wear masks, then we would’ve been in session.”
While the heat forced cities like Portland to open cooling centers and pushed records in others, it was good news for local ice cream shops.
While she was “surprised” at the sudden burst of hot weather, Lily Whitten, an employee at Beal’s Ice Cream’s location in Gorham, said, “on days like this, we get psyched to see everybody,” and that she was expecting a busy day.
Back in Windham, Howell said he too had a busy afternoon on tap, as he eyed Tuesday’s temperature and a possible second early dismissal or remote learning day.
