Union leaders, parents push Portland Public Schools to examine classroom air standards following The Oregonian/OregonLive’s analysis

OregonLive ^ | 5/29/2022 | Aimee Green

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Union leaders representing more than 4,000 Portland teachers and other licensed educators say they will meet with Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero and other Portland Public Schools administrators in coming days to urge them to acknowledge ventilation issues in a significant swath of elementary and middle schools.

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The union’s questions are prompted by The Oregonian/OregonLive’s “Below the bare minimum” investigation, which found that nearly 500 of almost 2,000 classrooms in the district’s elementary and middle schools fail to meet experts’ bare minimum recommendations for fresh and filtered air. Many ventilation scientists set that minimum threshold at no less than three air changes per an hour, though they say five or six should be the goal.

Experts also say there is no magical number that makes an indoor space “safe,” but the higher the number of times a room’s total volume of air is replaced, the less likely students and staff will catch airborne diseases such as COVID-19, colds and flu, or suffer ill effects from mold, air pollution or the build-up of carbon dioxide.

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“The fact that we did the testing shows how much we care about air quality for kids in our schools,” Scott said, of the $800,000 the district spent to measure air changes in every classroom. “I think the question now is where do we go? …What more do we need to be doing?”

Brim-Edwards said the district has worked hard to protect students and staff from COVID-19 by focusing on what leaders believe matters most: promoting vaccinations and masks. As new information about air changes has emerged, she said the district should delve into whether to set a goal by having additional conversations with public health agencies and by tapping experts outside those agencies.

[logi_cal869]

I saw this and was simply dumbfounded. Obviously, this is a money grab, but:

After all the controversy about masking & children in schools, NOW they're proclaiming concern about CO2 & children's health from air quality???

We shouldn't be surprised: This is the same left which wants to remove all School Resource Officers from the schools in the wake of the latest school shooting.

The stupid: It's viral.

[goodnesswins]

Just shut down the schools...it is time

[who_would_fardels_bear]

But they’re wearing masks so they’re protected from bad air

[lee martell]

If that truly is the biggest concern, they a blessed. All other Ostriches would agree.