Too Hot to Handle: SPF Schools to Close Early Thurs.

Students in the will go home early on Thursday due to predicted near-100-degree temperatures, Superintendent Margaret Hayes said in a telephone interview.

"We are monitoring all the temperatures in the building," Hayes said. "Although, today, it might be a little hard at the end of the day – a bit harder than we'd like it – we can get through today. Tomorrow, though, might be putting our systems through too much."

Temperatures are predicted to reach at least 98 degrees by about 2 p.m. Thursday, according to Weather Channel and Weather Underground forecasts.

High school students will be dismissed at 12:08 p.m., middle school students at 12:20 and elementary school students at 12:40, Hayes said. For the kindergarten and pre-k early-dismissal schedule, click here. 

students already had the day off Thursday for teacher in-service training. They return to school Friday for final exams, and officials there said that they do not anticipate any scheduling changes. The also had not adjusted their schedules as of Wednesday afternoon.

There is not a fixed threshold for declaring early-dismissals or closing schools due to heat, Hayes said. "You have to look at not just the real temperature, but the humidity, and the temperatures in the building," Hayes said. "There isn't a fixed, 'We-must-do-it-here,' because the temperatures vary so widely in the buildings. You can have one part of a building that's relatively reasonable, and another that's much warmer."

This marks the second time in three years that Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District schedules were affected by heat. In June 2008, sweltering temperatures forced the officials to cancel classes. Hayes chose not to cancel classes this year, however, because the district already used its emergency-closing days for the winter's snowstorms.