Breaking: Superintendent McKnight Picks ONE School to Monitor Ventilation During Pandemic. ONE. Just ONE of 209 Schools. #COVIDisAirborne

The Parents' Coalition has learned that MCPS Superintendent Monifa McKnight has decided to monitor the ventilation at one school.  

Just one school, even though two years into this COVID-19 pandemic it is well known that COVID is airborne and that indoor ventilation is one of the key mitigation strategies to reduce the spread of the virus.  

CO2 monitors can be used to determine if an interior space has adequate ventilation.  CO2 monitors are small, easy to obtain, and easy to use.  But Superintendent McKnight has decided that MCPS must "pilot" the use of CO2 monitors at one school only.  MCPS received $137M in ESSER funds. What did they spend it on?  Shouldn't indoor ventilation have been one of the top priorities? 

Congratulations to Poolesville High School students and staff.  Your school will have a shot at improved ventilation during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time where it is known that COVID is airborne and indoor air ventilation improvements can slow the spread of COVID-19.  

February 4, 2022 e-mail from MCPS ombudsperson relaying the following statement from MCPS:  

We are going to install carbon dioxide (CO2) monitors in various classrooms throughout the high school.  We’ve worked with parents and UMD for the sensors and hope to install late next week, early the following.  As we collect classroom conditions the global ecology students will review this information and incorporate as part of their curriculum and we will also teach them about ways to fix/mitigate spaces that may be slightly elevated.  

We picked Poolesville because it is one of the highest rated schools on our KFI data report (meaning school with large number of infrastructure concerns) and the fact that many of the students there have been engaged in indoor air quality concerns.  The thought is we can show how a school like Poolesville has and can have decent indoor air quality conditions, we can achieve the same at our other schools with much more capable infrastructure conditions. It should be a very positive pilot partnership project.