The Chicago Public Schools has 36,000 solutions to help its kids deal with the terrible heat: tiny portable fans.
And a first-grader who used one of the fans ended up with a haircut.
Shortly after the fans were distributed at Smyser Elementary School, where only the upper grades have air conditioning, a 6-year-old’s hair got caught in her fan and her teacher had to cut it out, according to the girl’s mother, Suzanne Kusar.
Not every CPS school is fully air-conditioned, so as this week’s temps tied record highs, the district amassed 36,000 personal fans and handed them out to at least 33 schools that requested them, according to district spokeswoman Keiana Barrett.
The foam-bladed fans, 17,200 of which were distributed, were donated, according to Barrett. She could not immediately name the donor.
Smyser received about 480 fans and handed them out Wednesday morning, when the heat fell short of 90 degrees, slightly cooler than Tuesday’s whopping 95 degrees, Kusar said.
Kusar said her daughter told her that kids were putting the fans in their mouths and the fans were taken away. . .