Another concern for school ventilation

Seven years have passed since the central air conditioning system worked in a junior high school in New York City taught by Lisa Fitzgerald O’Connor. As the new school year approaches in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, she and her colleagues threaten not to return unless repaired.

Although she has window units in her classroom, she is worried that air stagnation could increase the chances of infected students spreading the virus.

“The window unit isn’t going to cut that down. We don’t want to be cool, we just want the air to flow properly,” says O’Connor 2009, a science teacher working at Patria Miraval School in Manhattan. We are really very stressed about it.”

Schools across the country are facing similar issues when planning or considering a resumption this fall, with old air conditioning, heating, and circulation that aren’t working at all or because maintenance and replacement have been postponed to save money. Dealing with the system. Concerns about the school’s infrastructure are driving planning in some districts, even in the colder climates of outdoor classes for student and teacher health.

According to a federal report released in June, an estimated 41% of school districts across the country will need to update or replace heating, ventilation, and cooling systems in at least half of their schools.

House of Representatives Board of Education Chairman Bobby Scott (DV.) called on the federal government to help improve the system in the district, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that ventilation is an important part of the coronavirus that prevails in schools. I think it is.

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“Ventilation is the key, not fixing it for free, Scott said.

Dr Edward Nadell, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School specializing in airborne infections, said there was no evidence that the disease could spread from classroom to classroom through the ventilation system. The danger lies in an ineffective system that does not remove the airborne virus and leaves it in the classroom after being expelled by an infected person’s breath, sneeze, or cough, Nader said.

Nardell believes schools should consider installing UV light along the ceiling of the classroom. It is a technique used to combat measles, tuberculosis and other airborne diseases before the 1950s and is still used in hospitals and homeless shelters. Viruses and bacteria are destroyed using the UV spectrum, which is safe for humans. According to the manufacturer, this device costs $3,000 per classroom.

Some people, including Education Secretary Betsy Devos, say that one solution to the problem of air circulation could be an outdoor lesson. Coronaviruses have a low outdoor efficiency and allow students to sit 6 feet away.

There are other benefits to teaching outdoors, says Sharon Danks, CEO of Green Schoolyards America in Berkeley, California. The children are actually less distracting and she feels emotionally better when taught outdoors.

“Nature has been shown to restore the ability to direct attention,” she said.

Some schools in the northeast will buy large event tents, such as those used at outdoor weddings, and plan to use them to teach outdoors until November.

White River Valley Middle School in Bethel, Virginia, spent $50,000 on tents, $20,000 on portable bathrooms, wash stations, and other equipment. Some schools have propane heaters in their tents, but White River Valley principal Owen Bradley said students could handle the expected November daytime temperatures in their thirties without them. It was

Bradley said one benefit would be an opportunity to help students better understand and understand nature.

“We hope they will cherish it forever and help us save the planet,” he said.

Schools that bring students back this fall need, or at least strongly recommend, masks, but officials say they can only be effective indoors for 6 hours of school days. Air circulation is required.

Stephen Marley, the Green Bay, Wisconsin superintendent of education, said most of the 42 campuses in his district have old air systems. When humidity is high, it circulates dry indoor air to prevent the growth of unhealthy black mold on the walls, but it requires fresh air to fight the coronavirus.

“There are two things we are working against each other,” Marley said.

Janet Robinson, deputy superintendent of Stratford, Connecticut, says some of the 13 schools in her district were built between 80 and 100 years ago and cannot handle modern air systems. I will. There is also the issue of congestion. One is a classroom built for 15 students, but usually 25 people, so we cannot keep a social distance.

“It’s naive to any politician or anyone. [the students] Keep it 6 feet away,” she said.

Bryantos, the superintendent of the St Mary’s area school district in northern Pennsylvania, said the five school’s air systems in his district do not have an outlet for circulating fresh air to expel the virus. I will. He estimates that it will cost at least $600,000 per school to replace the system. Upon reopening of school on August 31, students will be required to wear masks, but Pennsylvania law exempts children who claim that their parents are in a physical or mental condition.

“You looked at how the school was built and no one expected a classroom with a radius of 6 feet around the student,” Toss said. Instead, the classroom “stuffs them like sardines and now we are facing results.”

Lisa Fitzgerald O’Connor takes pictures at MS 324 in New York on Thursday, August 6, 2020. It’s been seven years since the central air conditioning system worked in a junior high school in New York City taught by O’Connor. As the new school year approaches in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, she and her colleagues threaten not to return unless repaired. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Taken at the Library of Congress in 1911, this photo shows children wrapped in a blanket during a break in a fresh air class at Public School No. 51 in New York. Poor ventilation in schools throughout the United States limits your ability to safely resume face-to-face instruction. Some districts are warming up with outdoor classroom ideas. (Library of Congress via AP)

Lisa Fitzgerald O’Connor takes pictures at MS 324 in New York on Thursday, August 6, 2020. It’s been seven years since the central air conditioning system worked in a junior high school in New York City taught by O’Connor. As the new school year approaches in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, she and her colleagues threaten not to return unless repaired. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

This 1900 photos from the Library of Congress photos show an elementary school student waiting for lunch at Open Air School PS 51 in New York. Poor ventilation in schools throughout the United States limits your ability to safely resume face-to-face instruction. Some districts are warming up with outdoor classroom ideas. (Library of Congress via AP)

The third teacher from the left, Lisa Fitzgerald O’Connor, is colleagues Luz Jimenez (left), Maria Damas (second from left), Megan Hammerbacher (chapter leader of the United Nations Teachers Union) Sean Hindes (second from right), Sarah Kuner. (Right) MS 324, Thursday, August 6, 2020, New York. It’s been seven years since Central Air Conditioning Systems worked at a junior high school in New York City where they teach. As the new year approaches the coronavirus in the midst of a pandemic, O’Connor and her colleagues threaten not to return unless repaired. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

This 1900 photo from the Library of Congress photos shows an outdoor school in New York. Poor ventilation in schools throughout the United States limits your ability to safely resume face-to-face instruction. Some districts are warming up with outdoor classroom ideas. (Library of Congress via AP)

This 1911 photo from the Library of Congress shows an elementary school student riding a ferryboat Rutherford across the river from Manhattan, near Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Poor ventilation in schools throughout the United States limits your ability to safely resume face-to-face instruction. Some districts are warming up with outdoor classroom ideas. (Library of Congress via AP)