Properly ventilated classrooms are key to school safety. The DOE continues to monitor ventilation in all spaces throughout our buildings on a regular basis and posts updated information on each school’s page on our website, via the Overview tab, under Building Ventilation Information. As always, the health and safety of our staff, students and families is our number one priority.
The DOE maintains and make repairs or improvements within rooms and/or will close any rooms until repairs are made if a space should not be occupied. A room’s means of ventilation must be operating as designed to be cleared for occupancy. This could be through natural ventilation, mechanical ventilation, or a combination of those means.
Please note that the ventilation status of each room does not take into account additional means of ventilation put in place by the DOE. These include two air purifiers in every classroom and Merv 13 filters within window AC units in applicable classroom units.
Any room that does not meet our stringent safety standards will not be used for instructional purposes unless it is repaired or remediated. We want to remind you that while ventilation is essential to our COVID-19 prevention plan, it is only one part of a comprehensive, multi-layered strategy to keep our students, educators, and staff members safe inside and outside our schools. Additionally, the custodial engineer at every school are equipped with both air quality measurement devices and anemometers to ensure that ventilation is working properly.
Understanding Your School’s Report
The survey assesses whether various systems of ventilation are working properly and provides a status on a per room basis:
- Operational (Green Checkmark): Room’s ventilation is operational per the design of the building and has been cleared for occupancy.
- Repair In Progress (Yellow Wrench): The room has been cleared for occupancy if there is an adequate means of ventilation (windows and/or supply/exhaust, etc.) functioning, however a component(s) of a room’s ventilation is currently under repair.
- No Mechanical Ventilation (Red X): Room does not meet the DOE definition of adequate ventilation and must not be continuously occupied.
We want to assure you that we will continue to monitor all spaces within DOE buildings and complete repairs on an aggressive timeline, as we continue to work daily to protect our students, families, and educators.