While rolling through the kids drop off line at school in the morning, after running only for 10 minutes, the temp gauge goes up and the fan kicks on. The battery gauge drops when this happens also and then when you drive it goes down eventually and the battery gauge goes back up.. Cant sit with car and AC running, waiting in line. Have to shut off in fear overheating. Getting more frequent.
Possible causes? 175, 000 miles on original equipment.

 

Assuming you have enough radiator fluid, could be a stuck thermostat. That's a pretty common thing to go bad and is relatively cheap and easy to replace