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COLUMBIA, MO -- Hot temperatures forced the early dismissal of seven Columbia Public Schools .

Two junior high schools and five elementary schools in Columbia do not have air-conditioning.

The temperature inside this math class on the second floor of Columbia’s Ridgeway Elementary School was 91 degrees around noon on Friday. Fans can only do so much as teachers and students try to put up with the heat and humidity. School administrators let Columbia students without air-conditioning go home early, if the temperatures get too hot.  School officials say they base their decision to dismiss early on science and being humane.

“We go around to the buildings and especially the upper floors," Columbia Public Schools Chief Academic Officer Dr. Sally Beth Lyon said. "We’re here at Ridgeway and it is mighty hot upstairs. The third floor of Jefferson Junior High School just gets awfully hot. It’s not just the temperature and the heat index, it’s the fact that the air doesn’t move and there are a lot of children who are contributing to the heat.”

Lyon said there’s no magic number on the thermostat that requires early dismissal. Students had the opportunity to eat lunch before they went home early.  Every Columbia Public School building has some amount of air-conditioning, but that does not include every classroom. Early dismissals count as a full day for the district’s school year.

“We do have some minute requirements," Columbia Public Schools Community Relations Coordinator Michelle Baumstark said. "If we continue to have to utilize heat dismissal days for those particular buildings, we’ll have to be cautious of the number of minutes that we are required to be in session for the entire school year. We believe we have enough buffer at this time to be able to handle that.”

This was the first time Columbia Public School Administrators took advantage of their new early dismissal policy that only applies to schools without air-conditioning. School officials adopted that policy two years ago.

Preliminary enrollment for Columbia Public Schools is 17,558 students.

That’s based on first day attendance.

Administrators plan to release their official numbers next month.