Playground asphalt sizzles to 145 degrees in extreme heat waves. Parents demand school shade

With very little shade in sight, students prepare to return to class after a midmorning recess at Lockwood Elementary School on Wednesday. 1 ranking on L.A. Unified’ s “Greening Index,” a long list of schools in desperate need of green space and shade. More than 600 schools are listed on the L.A. Unified “Greening Index,” which ranks campuses in order of the most asphalt and least amount of green space. “We urgently need a systemwide solution to expand green space, particularly for low-income communities of color that are most likely to be harmed by climate change and extreme heat,” Gonez said. “This is an opportunity for L.A. Unified to correct those inequities on a system level and to expand green spaces where the problem is most urgent.” According to the district’s Greening Index, only 16% of campuses meet the recommended threshold of green space and at 235 elementary schools, 10% or less of their campus is green space.