Schools want sun shelters for hot kids

Note: Unless you live in the hot New Mexico sun, you do not realize how this is important.

From The News and Observer, Raleigh North Carolina

Principals of at least eight year-round Wake County schools, worried about how schoolchildren will cope with scorching summer heat, want to raise thousands of dollars to erect large canopies and shelters over playgrounds.

A handful of Wake schools have the shelters, which are more common in places such as Las Vegas. At least one has erected a 40-foot-by-60-foot shelter that covers the entire playground at a cost of $25,000. Even less extravagant shelters can still cost $7,500.

"With year-round schools, you've got kids out in the sun in June, July and August who need shelter," said Chris McCabe, principal of North Forest Pines Drive Elementary School in North Raleigh, a new year-round school. "We're talking about three solid months of high heat." READ MORE