You know it's been a hot July when people are pinning their hopes on August for some relief.  So far in July, the thermometer hit 90 degrees 12 times and the average temperature for the month registered six degrees higherthan what's typical for this time of year.

In our last poll we asked readers whether kids should get a reprieve from summer school when the temperature rises above 90 degrees.  More than 700 readers weighed in, with half voting for a common sense approach:  give students the day off if their classrooms aren't air-conditioned.

A quarter of our readers believe in tough love.  Among all voters, 9 percent think that the summer school calendar is already too short, while a nostalgic 16 percent believe that if kids in 1950 had to sweat out summer school without air conditioning, then so should kids in 2010.

Another quarter of readers voted for closing summer school for all during a heat wave, with a subset -- 6 percent of voters -- not wanting summer school to be held under any circumstances.

On a related note, summer school attendance in July has not been stellar. Among the 100,500 students mandated to attend, roughly 81 percent of students in grades 3 through 8, and 62 percent in high school, showed up for summer classes last week, according to data released by the Department of Education.

However, we're not sure the blazing hot weather is to blame.  Attendance rates for the same period in 2009 were roughly the same even though last summer was only the second time in 140 yearsthat the temperature did not hit 90 degrees in the city during either June or July.