Emmett's heat exhaustion in school raises serious concerns

Photo: Reuters

Five-year-old Emmett Mullins came home from school last Thursday feeling unwell. He was pale, very warm to the touch, and later started vomiting. But it wasn’t a stomach bug or a virus—it was the heat.

Earlier that day, Emmett had fallen asleep in his classroom while watching a movie. The room was so hot that it left him overheated. His mother, Alexandra Mullins, called Telehealth Ontario and was advised to take him straight to the emergency room.

At the Ottawa hospital, doctors found that Emmett’s temperature and heart rate were too high, and he was dehydrated. He was given a popsicle with electrolytes to help him feel better and was carefully watched until he was well enough to go home.

Now, Emmett’s mother is speaking out, joining other parents, teachers, and health professionals who are worried about how hot classrooms are becoming—especially during the current heat wave hitting Ontario and southwestern Quebec.

Many schools, including Emmett’s, do not have air conditioning. “We’ve reached a point where children are going to get hurt,” Alexandra said on Monday. “I wouldn’t be surprised if more kids in the city ended up with heat exhaustion.”

With record-breaking temperatures this week, cities like Ottawa and Toronto have opened cooling centers for people to escape the heat. But schools continue to struggle.

Doctors warn that young children and elderly people are more at risk when it comes to extreme heat. Dr. Christie MacDonald from London Health Sciences Centre explained that people might feel dizzy, stop sweating, or experience chest pain and confusion—these are serious signs of heat stroke.

She advised everyone to drink plenty of water and check on others, especially those who may not have a way to cool down.

Alexandra Mullins believes more needs to be done to deal with classroom heat, especially with rising temperatures due to climate change. “People talk a lot about frostbite and the cold,” she said. “But heat can be just as dangerous.”

Ontario’s Health Minister Sylvia Jones said schools are responsible for making their own heat safety plans, like moving classes to cooler parts of the building. “Every school is different,” she said.

But there is no law in Ontario that sets a maximum temperature where schools or workplaces must close. Teachers are told to stay hydrated, wear light clothes, and avoid direct sunlight—but that’s often not enough.

Karen Littlewood, head of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said many schools are simply too hot to work in. “People are sweating in classrooms with no real solution except going outside to sit under a tree,” she said.

Because of the heat, some parents are keeping their kids at home. Some teachers are even calling in sick because they can’t handle the high temperatures.
“It’s not fair,” said Littlewood. “Kids can’t learn like this, and staff can’t work like this. People are getting sick because of the heat.”

She also noted a major unfairness: In winter, if a classroom gets too cold—below 17°C—action is taken. But there’s no similar rule for high temperatures.
Alexandra Mullins agrees. “If the furnace in my son’s school broke in January, they would send the kids home right away,” she said. “No one would even question it.”