Murcia schools prepare protocols to suspend classes during extreme heat

Dozens of schools in Spain’s Region of Murcia are preparing internal protocols to suspend or reorganize classes when excessive heat makes classrooms unsafe, according to a May 23 report by *La Verdad*. The move follows repeated complaints from teachers and unions that high indoor temperatures are disrupting lessons and exposing pupils and staff to thermal stress. Recent guidance circulated through education labor channels in Murcia says schools should create formal plans that can be activated when classroom temperatures pass 27 degrees Celsius. ### Which schools are preparing these plans, and what would they do? *La Verdad* reported on May 23 that dozens of schools across the Region of Murcia were preparing protocols to halt normal teaching when heat becomes excessive. The paper said centres were looking at arrangements similar to those used last year, when schools and unions pressed for better climate control in classrooms. A guidance note published this month on the labor portal for Murcia education workers said schools could approve a protocol in the staff assembly and school council that would allow them to suspend or reorganize teaching activity when indoor classroom temperatures exceed 27C. (rrhheducacion.carm.es) The same note urged schools to record temperatures and report risks to occupational-prevention services. ### Why is 27C becoming the number schools are watching? (laverdad.es) A Murcia education labor notice said Spain’s workplace rules set a temperature band of 17C to 27C for educational centres. The note linked that threshold to teachers’ rights under occupational-risk law to interrupt activity if they consider there is a serious and imminent risk to health. A separate labor-posting page from the same Murcia education portal said some classrooms had already gone above 27C and described the situation as a risk of thermal stress for both staff and pupils. (rrhheducacion.carm.es) That notice said schools should not treat the issue as exceptional and should prepare for formal action inside each centre. ### What are teachers saying the heat does inside the classroom? (rrhheducacion.carm.es) ANPE Murcia said in a May 31, 2025 statement that the problem returns “year after year” as temperatures rise toward the end of the school term. The union said many classrooms exceed recommended limits and that the usual stopgap measures — fans, lowered blinds and open windows — have not solved the problem. (rrhheducacion.carm.es) That same union statement said pupils in overheated rooms show fatigue, lack of concentration and irritability. *La Verdad*’s report, as summarized in the source briefing, described the classroom effects in similar terms: shorter attention spans, noisier transitions and slower written output that can break lesson flow. (cartagenaactualidad.com) ### Has Murcia already seen classes suspended over heat? IES Valle de Leiva in Alhama de Murcia suspended its school day on May 29, 2025 after classroom temperatures rose above 30C, according to local reporting. The report said the decision was taken by the school’s management after conditions became incompatible with normal teaching. That episode has become one of the reference points in the current debate because it showed a school in Murcia moving from complaints about heat to an actual interruption of classes. (cartagenaactualidad.com) Union and labor-site notices published since then have pushed schools to have procedures ready before the next severe heat episode. ### What happens next inside the school system? (rrnews.es) School-level protocols in Murcia would need approval through the claustro and consejo escolar — the staff body and school council — according to the guidance published this month. The same guidance says centres should document indoor temperatures and notify prevention services when thresholds are exceeded. Murcia’s education portal remains the main official channel for schools in the regional system, while unions and labor representatives are continuing to press for heat-mitigation measures in classrooms. (rrnews.es) For now, the immediate next step is procedural: schools prepare and approve protocols so they can suspend or reorganize classes during the next period of extreme heat. (educarm.es) (rrhheducacion.carm.es)