With temperatures heating up this week in northern San Luis Obispo County, the Paso Robles Unified School District is limiting outdoor activity and in some cases, prohibiting it altogether.
The heat guidelines, otherwise known as Real-Time Outdoor Activity Risk (ROAR), help maintain students' health across the district by restricting outdoor activities like recess, physical education and sports practices, depending on temperature and air quality.
“We want to protect our students that are especially susceptible to heat illness," said Student Services Director Tom Harrington. "We're taking precautions not only daily at our school sites but this Friday night we have a home football game which they have pushed the times back so that we might avoid some of the the heat of the day.”
Assembly Bill 1653, passed in 2023, requires the CIF to develop guidelines, procedures and safety standards to help prevent heat illness. The CIF has since required schools to use a WetBulb Globe Temperature device to measure heat stress in direct sunlight.
Every Friday before a football game, players come into Head Coach Matt Carroll’s classroom for what they call a "hydration party."
“They come in, they have a small bottle of water, they have to drink it in front of me," Carroll said. "They do it as a team."
Through the summer and early fall, Carroll keeps an eye on his students and student-athletes by checking their skin color and making sure they’re sweating throughout the day. After practice is over, the athletes have to check into the training room.
"It's their job that night to come in and make up that water weight," Carroll explained. "They have to hydrate throughout the day and if they're two pounds short the next day, they don't get to practice.”
Carroll’s student-athletes took a class covering heat stroke, learning the signs and what to do if a teammate goes down. There's only been one accident two athletes were witness to at an away game in the valley.
“He just overheated," said senior football player Jonathan Druding. "It was a really hot game, super humid.”
The hydration party holds students accountable, and so does Coach Carroll.
“Coach Carroll really makes sure that everybody's hydrated and stuff... on game days especially," Druding added. "We all come in, we've got to drink water in front of Coach Carroll."
When temperatures hit the 90s, students find relief in air-conditioned classrooms.
“I'll go through a whole [bottle] and by that time I'm halfway through the school day," said sophomore student Aiden Ponti.
According to the school district's guidelines, restrictions don't go into effect until temperatures hit the 80s. Below is what is represented on the ROAR chart:
- Level 1: no restrictions, 35-79 degrees.
- Level 2: ensure sensitive individuals are medically managing their conditions, 80-89 degrees.
- Level 3: no endurance running and allow breaks for hydration, 90-95 degrees.
- Level 4: exercise indoors or avoid rigorous outdoor activities, sensitive individuals remain indoors, 96-100 degrees.
- Level 5: no outdoor activity, events rescheduled or relocated, 101 degrees +.
