Summer Heat Plan
We take our responsibility for our student's health as our #1 priority as a staff. As part of our marching band curriculum, we train our students to be proactive and responsible partners in the development of life-long health and safety habits.
Our Marching Band program has procedures in place that have been developed with GCISD and CHHS administration that are in addition to the GCISD district guidelines for student activities in extreme weather conditions, in this case a high heat index.
Here is a link to the current GCISD Administrative Regulations and Weather Guidelines for Student Activities.
In addition, we have developed the following additional guidelines that are beyond what the GCISD Administrative Regulations require. They are as follows:
Our general practice policy is to follow established GCISD procedures for hydrating and breaks, which includes unlimited water breaks and physical breaks for all students throughout practice. We speak to our students about making sure they let a staff member know if they do not feel well, and that they let a staff member know if they have a serious illness they are fighting. This allows us to be aware of any student who might be at an increased risk for heat exhaustion because they are fighting off another medical issue.
We typically rehearse in chunks of about 20-25 minutes with a 5 minute water break. Once the heat index rises to 100, we reduce the amount of minutes we rehearse between breaks. We check https://rainwise.net/weather/gcisd (the official GCISD source for weather information) every morning for the heat index forecasts for the day and we post this on the projector in the band hall along with morning announcements. Our staff is also trained to look for signs of students who may be experiencing any heat related symptoms and act immediately to ensure they take a break, cool off and increase their water consumption.
Additionally the GCISD Administrative Regulations and Weather Guidelines for Student Activities direct us to not practice during the hottest part of the day when the heat index rises above 110, which is typically 2pm-5pm.
The heat index protocol/procedure we have developed with campus and district administation is the following:
We also want to ensure that each student's individual tolerance and medical situation is accounted for. Please contact the directors if there are any pre-existing medical conditions that we should know about that could be exacerbated by rehearsing in high heat indexes.
Our Marching Band program has procedures in place that have been developed with GCISD and CHHS administration that are in addition to the GCISD district guidelines for student activities in extreme weather conditions, in this case a high heat index.
Here is a link to the current GCISD Administrative Regulations and Weather Guidelines for Student Activities.
In addition, we have developed the following additional guidelines that are beyond what the GCISD Administrative Regulations require. They are as follows:
Our general practice policy is to follow established GCISD procedures for hydrating and breaks, which includes unlimited water breaks and physical breaks for all students throughout practice. We speak to our students about making sure they let a staff member know if they do not feel well, and that they let a staff member know if they have a serious illness they are fighting. This allows us to be aware of any student who might be at an increased risk for heat exhaustion because they are fighting off another medical issue.
We typically rehearse in chunks of about 20-25 minutes with a 5 minute water break. Once the heat index rises to 100, we reduce the amount of minutes we rehearse between breaks. We check https://rainwise.net/weather/gcisd (the official GCISD source for weather information) every morning for the heat index forecasts for the day and we post this on the projector in the band hall along with morning announcements. Our staff is also trained to look for signs of students who may be experiencing any heat related symptoms and act immediately to ensure they take a break, cool off and increase their water consumption.
Additionally the GCISD Administrative Regulations and Weather Guidelines for Student Activities direct us to not practice during the hottest part of the day when the heat index rises above 110, which is typically 2pm-5pm.
The heat index protocol/procedure we have developed with campus and district administation is the following:
- Heat Index below 100: Instruction for no more than 25 minutes, water/shade break for at least 5 minutes
- Heat Index from 100-105: Instruction for no more than 20 minutes, water/shade break for at least 4 minutes
- Heat Index above 105: Instruction for no more than 15 minutes, water/shade break for at least 3 minutes
- Heat Index above 110: Same guideline as above 105, but limit practice to no more than 2 hours outside
We also want to ensure that each student's individual tolerance and medical situation is accounted for. Please contact the directors if there are any pre-existing medical conditions that we should know about that could be exacerbated by rehearsing in high heat indexes.