LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. 鈥 Yahushua Robinson was an energetic boy who jumped and danced his way through life. Then, a physical education teacher instructed the 12-year-old to run outside on a day when the temperature climbed to .
鈥淲e lose loved ones all the time, but he was taken in a horrific way,鈥 his mother, Janee Robinson, said from the family鈥檚 Inland Empire home, about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles. 鈥淚 would never want nobody to go through what I鈥檓 going through.鈥
The day her son died, Robinson, who teaches phys ed, kept her elementary school students inside, and she had hoped her children鈥檚 teachers would do the same.
The Riverside County Coroner鈥檚 Bureau ruled that Yahushua died on Aug. 29 of a heart defect, with heat and physical exertion as contributing factors. His death at Canyon Lake Middle School came on the second day of an excessive heat warning, when people were and limit their time outdoors.
Yahushua鈥檚 family is supporting in California that would require the state Department of Education to create guidelines that govern physical activity at public schools during extreme weather, including setting threshold temperatures for when it鈥檚 too hot or too cold for students to exercise or play sports outside. If the measure becomes law, the guidelines will have to be in place by Jan. 1, 2026.
Many states have adopted protocols to protect student athletes from extreme heat during practices. But the California bill is broader and would require educators to consider all students throughout the school day and in any extreme weather, whether they鈥檙e doing jumping jacks in fourth period or playing tag during recess. It鈥檚 unclear if the bill will clear a critical committee vote scheduled for May 16.
鈥淵ahushua鈥檚 story, it鈥檚 very touching. It鈥檚 very moving. I think it could have been prevented had we had the right safeguards in place,鈥 said state Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield), one of the bill鈥檚 authors. 鈥淐limate change is impacting everyone, but it鈥檚 especially impacting vulnerable communities, especially our children.鈥
Last year marked the planet鈥檚 warmest on record, and extreme weather is becoming more frequent and severe, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Even though most heat deaths and illnesses are preventable, about every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Young children are especially susceptible to heat illness because their bodies have more trouble regulating temperature, and they rely on adults to protect them from overheating. A person can go from feeling dizzy or experiencing a headache to passing out, having a seizure, or going into a coma, said , a physician and the division chief of general pediatrics at Loma Linda University Health.
鈥淚t can be a really dangerous thing,鈥 Vercio said of heat illness. 鈥淚t is something that we should take seriously and figure out what we can do to avoid that.鈥
It鈥檚 unclear how many children have died at school from heat exposure. Eric Robinson, 15, had been sitting in his sports medicine class learning about heatstroke when his sister arrived at his high school unexpectedly the day their brother died.
鈥淭hey said, 鈥極K, go home, Eric. Go home early.鈥 I walked to the car and my sister鈥檚 crying. I couldn鈥檛 believe it,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe that my little brother鈥檚 gone. That I won鈥檛 be able to see him again. And he鈥檇 always bugged me, and I would say, 鈥楲eave me alone.鈥欌
That morning, Eric had done Yahushua鈥檚 hair and loaned him his hat and chain necklace to wear to school.
As temperatures climbed into the 90s that morning, a physical education teacher instructed Yahushua to run on the blacktop. His friends told the family that the sixth grader had repeatedly asked the teacher for water but was denied, his parents said.
The school district has refused to release video footage to the family showing the moment Yahushua collapsed on the blacktop. He died later that day at the hospital.
Melissa Valdez, a Lake Elsinore Unified School District spokesperson, did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Schoolyards can reach on hot days, with asphalt sizzling up to 145 degrees, according to findings by researchers at the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. Some school districts, such as and , have hot weather plans or guidelines that call for limiting physical activity and providing water to kids. But there are no statewide standards that K-12 schools must implement to protect students from heat illness.
Under the bill, the California Department of Education must set temperature thresholds requiring schools to modify students鈥 physical activities during extreme weather, such as heat waves, wildfires, excessive rain, and flooding. Schools would also be required to come up with plans for alternative indoor activities, and staff must be trained to recognize and respond to weather-related distress.
California has had heat rules on the books for outdoor workers since 2005, but it was a latecomer to , according to the at the University of Connecticut, which is named after a Minnesota Vikings football player who died from heatstroke in 2001. By comparison, Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, this spring preventing cities and counties from creating their own heat protections for outdoor workers, has the best protections for student athletes, according to the institute.
Douglas Casa, a professor of kinesiology and the chief executive officer of the institute, said state regulations can establish consistency about how to respond to heat distress and save lives.
鈥淭he problem is that each high school doesn鈥檛 have a cardiologist and doesn鈥檛 have a thermal physiologist and doesn鈥檛 have a sickling expert,鈥 Casa said of the medical specialties for heat illness.
In 2022, California released an that recommended state agencies 鈥渆xplore implementation of indoor and outdoor heat exposure rules for schools,鈥 but neither the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, nor lawmakers have adopted standards.
Lawmakers last year failed to pass legislation that would have required schools to implement a heat plan and replace hot surfaces, such as cement and rubber, with lower-heat surfaces, such as grass and cool pavement. , which drew opposition from school administrators, stalled in committee, in part over cost concerns.
Naj Alikhan, a spokesperson for the Association of California School Administrators, said the new bill takes a different approach and would not require structural and physical changes to schools. The association has not taken a position on the measure, and no other organization has registered opposition.
The Robinson family said children鈥檚 lives ought to outweigh any costs that might come with preparing schools to deal with the growing threat of extreme weather. Yahushua鈥榮 death, they say, could save others.
鈥淚 really miss him. I cry every day,鈥 said Yahushua’s father, Eric Robinson. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no one day that go by that I don鈥檛 cry about my boy.鈥
This article was produced by 蘑菇影院 Health News, which publishes , an editorially independent service of the .听
