Wednesday, June 29, 2022
All MCPS High Schools Will Have Wellness Centers by Start of Next School Year [Only ONE bidder for project.]
.@MCPS Letter: Extended School Year (ESY) FAILURE. No teachers for students with special education needs. What are over 400 ADMINISTRATORS doing this summer?? Put 'em in classrooms!
What are MCPS' over 400 educational specialist administrators and managers doing this summer? It's time to call them back into the classroom.
Parents and guardians with children needing special education classes this summer have suddenly received the letter shown below. Families were given approximately 10 days notice that their child would not be in school this summer and that THE FAMILIES had to quickly find someone to sit with their child each school day for virtual, at home instruction.Who is in charge of this failure? Gwendolyn Mason, brought back from the Superintendent Jerry Weast years in MCPS. Superintendent Monifa McKnight has been bringing back a lot of administrators from the years of Superintendent Jerry Weast. Monifa McKnight is a Jerry Weast reboot.
The failure to plan for students needing special education services over the summer is, therefore, no surprise but a return to the MCPS attitude that students with special education services don't deserve services at all. Superintendent Jerry Weast took a family with a student with special education needs all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 to make his case.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
June 29, 2022
Dear Parents/Guardians:
On Friday, June XX, 2022, the Office of Special Education (OSE) invited you to a meeting to discuss Extended School Year (ESY) services for your child beginning, July 5, 2022. The purpose of the meeting was to share some very urgent and important information regarding the impact of the special education teacher shortage on delivering in-person ESY services in Summer 2022.
Due to the significant teacher shortage, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) OSE has been unable to hire special education teachers to serve a select group of ESY eligible students in-person. Also, MCPS offered incentive pay to special education teachers in an effort to encourage and attract teachers to work in the ESY program this summer. Unfortunately, not enough teachers indicated an interest in the opportunity.
As a result, MCPS will provide virtual ESY services for your child. To support your child during virtual instruction, MCPS will pay a person that you identify $19 per hour. This person may be a parent/guardian, relative or childcare provider. The person will be paid for working 4 hours daily, with the exception of July 19, 2022, when schools are closed. In order to pay your selected person, please complete the ESY survey by July 5, 2022.
Your child will be attending the morning ESY session that will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. You will be sent a link that will enable you to access virtual ESY services at the time referenced in this letter. If there are any concerns about your child’s session or the ESY Provider Survey, please contact Anna_E_Szilagyi-Weichbrod@mcpsmd.org.
You are invited to pick up your child’s Chromebook from their school of enrollment during the 2021–2022 school year from 9:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 30, 2022, or Friday, July 1, 2022. Chromebooks are expected to be returned to the school from which it was picked up from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Monday, August 1, 2022.
Please contact me at Gwendoyn_J_Mason@mcpsmd.org if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Gwendolyn J. Mason, Ed.D.
Acting Associate Superintendent
Monday, June 27, 2022
Albornoz ‘Deeply Alarmed’ About Lack of Staffing MCPS Faces Next School Year
Council President Gabe Albornoz told MyMCM that the council is “deeply alarmed and will assured the council is supporting MCPS in their recruitment efforts”...
https://www.mymcmedia.org/albornoz-deeply-alarmed-about-lack-of-staff-mcps-faces-next-school-year/
Friday, June 24, 2022
Is the adult in your child's classroom a licensed Maryland Educator? Find out here.
Educator Look-Up
Use our Public Search to verify a Maryland Educator Certificate.
https://www.marylandpublicschools.org/about/pages/dee/certification/index.aspx
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Loudoun Co. schools tighten social media access for middle school students
The School Board’s Technology Steering Committee Wednesday night will discuss social media access for students, and hear about recent challenges and changes in an informational briefing.
While social media access and usage on mobile phones is largely between parent and child, access to social media and websites on school-provided Chromebooks for students is restricted...
Victim, 14, speaks out about how Fairfax County prosecutors handled predator criminal case
They tried to pressure me into making a decision without my family present and they treated me more of like the perpetrator rather than the victim of a crime,” said “Julie” who is now 16 years old.
Julie, not her real name, said she’s been traumatized. First, by a manipulating online predator. Then, by the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney's Office...
SAT/ACT scores no longer required for University System of Maryland admissions
Each university can set its own policies regarding standardized test scores, but most of the 12 institutions including the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the University of Maryland, College Park supported the policy...
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
ASK the Candidates for Mont. Co. State's Attorney: @MCSAONEWS @tomformoco2022 @MirekuNorth @PerryPaylor How would YOU respond if the FBI announced the arrest of a former @mcps elementary school teacher?
@MCSAONEWS @tomformoco2022 @MirekuNorth @PerryPaylor Last summer the FBI released info on a former @mcps elem. teacher that detailed possible sexual abuse of elem. students. No statement from MoCoSAO, no statement from @mcps, no outreach to past students, no investigation 1/2
— Parents' Coalition (@PCMC1) June 22, 2022
Breaking: Former Broad Acres Elem. @mcps SCHOOL TEACHER PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY [@mcps Personnel File Exposed by FBI]
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Remember when this former MCPS Broad Acres Elementary School teacher was arrested in August of 2021 by the FBI in Buffalo, New York?
As part of Richard Scherer's arrest the FBI RELEASED information from this former MCPS teacher's personnel file.
The Parents' Coalition reported on that information in a series of blog posts that can be read at this link.
Richard Scherer has now plead guilty to a child pornography charge. The FBI press release is below.
Part 5 in our series is linked below. Was any of the information in Richard Scherer's personnel file ever reported to Montgomery County Police?
Were the victims of these acts ever counseled or advised of their rights? Some of these students could still be in Montgomery County Public Schools. They were elementary school students when Richard Scherer was their teacher.
Are "students first" in Montgomery County Public Schools or is that just a public relations line used by Superintendent Monifa McKnight?
Thursday, August 5, 2021
Scherer (Richard) Plea by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd
MCPS Faces Teacher Shortage for Next School Year
As of June 13, there were 581 unfilled positions. Meanwhile, 973 teachers have indicated they will be resigning or retiring.
When the previous school year ended, 668 – about one-third fewer – teachers had indicated their plans to resign or retire, according to a spokesperson for the Montgomery County Education Association...
https://www.mymcmedia.org/mcps-faces-teacher-shortage-for-next-school-year/
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Fairfax Co. teacher arrested after police say search of her home turns up child pornography
Fairfax County police said the investigation into Kristine Knizner, 28, began on Tuesday, with a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children...
Fairfax Co. bus driver, attendant charged with felony neglect after 3-year-old suffers head injury
Authorities said Vienna officers responded to a school bus stop on March 18 for an argument between an FCPS bus driver and a child’s parent after the child had been injured on the bus riding home from school...
Monday, June 20, 2022
Indoor Air Quality Guide for Teachers
Breathe Easier. More Focused Students.
- We spend 90% of our lives in buildings. We spend 27 years of our lives in bed! As a result, most of the chemicals that we inhale are from indoor air. Indoor air has more chemicals than outdoors.
- The concentrations for most chemicals indoors are higher indoors than outdoors. This is due to 1) emissions from building products, people, cleaning agents, cooking, and consumer products (toys) and 2) chemical reactions indoors.
- We inhale more air mass per day then we drink water mass. Hence, we tend to inhale more unintentional chemicals per day than we drink.
- We care about what goes into our students’ bodies. We require a permission slip for our students to use sunscreen and or take medicine. Hence, we care how chemicals get to our students’ skin and mouth. We should also be concerned with chemicals that get to our students lungs...
Mayra Ramos, a parent at Montgomery Blair HS, tells me she ran from work after hearing about the lockdown.
Mayra Ramos, a parent at Montgomery Blair HS, tells me she ran from work after hearing about the lockdown. She reunited with her daughter Meleny (10th grade) as we were speaking. pic.twitter.com/Zli7DNUx4s
— Michael Hernández (@MHernandezTV_) June 16, 2022
SERIOUS WORKPLACE INJURY: Jones Lane Elementary School in Darnestown, Montgomery County. ~2:45PM Friday,
SERIOUS WORKPLACE INJURY: Jones Lane Elementary School in Darnestown, Montgomery County. ~2:45PM Friday, man serious to critical after Zero-Turn Mower overturned on top of him. Bystanders freed man from under mower. Medics now transporting him to a Trauma Ctr.
— Cordell (@CordellTraffic) June 17, 2022
Cellphone rules change for Fairfax Co. students this fall
ICYMI @MCPSAthletics noted a change to student 💉 requirements: “Vaccination for COVID-19 is strongly recommended for student-athletes, but is no longer required. This change to the vaccination requirement applies to summer conditioning and the upcoming fall season.”
ICYMI @MCPSAthletics noted a change to student 💉 requirements: “Vaccination for COVID-19 is strongly recommended for student-athletes, but is no longer required. This change to the vaccination requirement applies to summer conditioning and the upcoming fall season.” https://t.co/ttvEiOK7rU
— Stephanie Ramirez (@RamirezReports) June 17, 2022
Sunday, June 19, 2022
Friday, June 17, 2022
Families of color drive surge in homeschooling, as one family sweetens the lessons
Parents, who say they're done with school politics, inequitable treatment and a one-sized-fits all approach are finding creative solutions to maximize their child's abilities and educational experience.
For aspiring 6th grade baker and entrepreneur, Tyce Yorke, it means cake design is part of his curriculum...
Thursday, June 16, 2022
Fairfax Co. schools may limit cellphone usage beginning next year
Under a proposed revision to the “Student Rights and Responsibilities” handbook, cellphone use for most students would be prohibited during all classes as well as visits to the bathrooms and locker rooms...
COVID-19: Montgomery County in High Transmission Rate. Maryland Positivity Rate 10 - 14.9%
Maryland
State Health Department| 7-day Metrics | |
|---|---|
| Cases | 9,765 |
| % Positivity | 10-14.9 % |
| Deaths | 48 |
| % of Population ≥ 5 Years of Age Fully Vaccinated | 81.2% |
| New Hospital Admissions (7-Day Moving Avg) | 61.29 |
Your kids’ apps are spying on them
Apps are spying on our kids at a scale that should shock you. More than two-thirds of the 1,000 most popular iPhone apps likely to be used by children collect and send their personal information out to the advertising industry, according to a major new study shared with me by fraud and compliance software company Pixalate. On Android, 79 percent of popular kids apps do the same.
Angry Birds 2 snoops when kids use it. So do Candy Crush Saga and apps for coloring and doing math homework. They’re grabbing kids’ general locations and other identifying information and sending it to companies that can track their interests, predict what they might want to buy or even sell their information to others.
Apple and Google run the app stores, so what are they doing about it?
Enabling it...
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
@mcps McKnight's Chief of Staff James D'Andrea Leaves for PA Principal Job (PA district Superintendent previously worked for @mcps)
Mr. James D’Andrea has been appointed as the principal of Cheltenham High School, effective Friday, July 1, 2022. The board voted to approve his appointment at the Tuesday, June 14 legislative board meeting.
— Cheltenham SD (@CheltenhamSD) June 15, 2022
Read more: https://t.co/eoToNiunrd pic.twitter.com/dyJXV2A1w8
(June 14, 2022) After an extensive search and interview process, Mr. James D’Andrea has been appointed as the principal of Cheltenham High School, effective Friday, July 1, 2022. The board voted to approve his appointment at the Tuesday, June 14 legislative board meeting.
“Mr. D’Andrea is a collaborative, results-driven leader who is committed to working with students, staff, parents/guardians and the community to build on the many successes that Cheltenham High School has achieved,” said CSD Superintendent Dr. Brian W. Scriven. “He is passionate about fostering a welcoming and equitable learning environment grounded in high expectations.”
Mr. D’Andrea comes to the Cheltenham School District with 21 years of experience in public education. From 2001 to 2007, he served as a science teacher, grade-level team leader, and academy coordinator at Anacostia Senior High School in Washington, D.C. For the past 15 years, he has served as an administrator in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools as a high school assistant principal, middle school principal, high school principal, and school system chief of staff. During his tenure as principal of Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland, his notable successes included an increase in graduation rates and improved results on student and staff climate surveys. Notably, Northwest High School is one of the largest and most diverse high schools in Maryland with more than 2,500 students in grades 9-12.
Mr. D’Andrea earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Vanderbilt University in 2000; a master’s degree in secondary science education from George Washington University in 2003; a graduate certificate in school administration and supervision from Johns Hopkins University in 2007; and a master’s degree in measurement, evaluation, statistics and assessment from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2013.
Mr. D’Andrea will be scheduling times to meet with students, staff, parents/guardians, and community members this summer.
AGAIN: 26 Montgomery County Schools on MD COVID-19 OUTBREAK List for June 15th. Lakewood ELEMENTARY up to 50. @mcps @mocoboe World Class Spreading of COVID-19.
Previous weekly reports at this link.
Albert Einstein High School Montgomery 3 6/15/2022
Ashburton Elementary School Montgomery 14 6/15/2022
Cedar Grove Elementary School Montgomery 6 6/15/2022
Fields Road Elementary School Montgomery 14 6/15/2022
Flower Valley Elementary School Montgomery 8 6/15/2022
Foundation School of Montgomery County Montgomery 7 6/15/2022
Goshen Elementary School Montgomery 4 6/15/2022
John L. Gildner Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) Montgomery 7 6/15/2022
Lakewood Elementary School Montgomery 50 6/15/2022
Luxmanor Elementary School Montgomery 13 6/15/2022
Meadow Hall Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/15/2022
Piney Branch Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/15/2022
Rachel Carson Elementary School Montgomery 13 6/15/2022
Rochambeau French International School - Bradley Campus Montgomery 18 6/15/2022
Rochambeau French International School - Rollingwood Campus Montgomery 21 6/15/2022
Rochambeau French International School - Forest Rd Campus Montgomery 62 6/15/2022
Seneca Academy Montgomery 8 6/15/2022
Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School Montgomery 15 6/15/2022
St. Andrew's Episcopal School Montgomery 53 6/15/2022
St. Peter's School Montgomery 6 6/15/2022
St. Raphael's School Montgomery 11 6/15/2022
The Academy of the Holy Cross Montgomery 15 6/15/2022
The Barrie School Montgomery 3 6/15/2022
The Norwood School Montgomery 31 6/15/2022
Westover Elementary School Montgomery 13 6/15/2022
Woodfield Elementary School Montgomery 19 6/15/2022
Note: This dataset reflects public and non-public K-12 schools in Maryland that have COVID-19 outbreaks. Data are based on local health department reports to MDH, which may be revised if additional information becomes available. This list does not include child care facilities or institutes of higher education.
Schools listed meet 1 or more of the following criteria:
Classroom/cohort outbreak definition:
1) At least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among students/teachers/staff within a 14-day period and who are epidemiologically linked, but not household contacts; or
School-wide outbreak definition:
2) Three or more classrooms or cohorts with cases from separate households that meet the classroom/cohort outbreak definition that occurs within 14 days; or
3) Five percent or more unrelated students/teachers/staff have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14 day period (minimum of 10 unrelated students/teachers/staff).
Cases reported reflect the current total number of cases. Schools are removed from the list when health officials determine 14 days have passed with no new cases and no tests pending. Archival data is available through the COVID-19 open data catalogue.
These data are updated weekly on Wednesdays during the 10 a.m. hour. MDH is continuously evaluating its data and reporting systems and will make updates as more data becomes available.
@BaltCoPS Student shows Board of Education Pictures of What Students are Supposed to Eat at School
At the end of this student's presentation close ups are shown of the school food items on the presentation board.
26 Montgomery County Schools on MD COVID-19 OUTBREAK List for June 8th. Damascus High School @ 53, Lakewood ELEMENTARY @ 47. Why are Pandemic Outbreaks Acceptable in Montgomery County?
Previous weekly reports at this link.
Ashburton Elementary School Montgomery 11 6/8/2022
Clopper Mill Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/8/2022
Damascus High School Montgomery 53 6/8/2022
Fields Road Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/8/2022
Flower Valley Elementary School Montgomery 5 6/8/2022
Foundation School of Montgomery County Montgomery 7 6/8/2022
Germantown Elementary School Montgomery 4 6/8/2022
Goshen Elementary School Montgomery 4 6/8/2022
John L. Gildner Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents (RICA) Montgomery 5 6/8/2022
Lakewood Elementary School Montgomery 47 6/8/2022
Luxmanor Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/8/2022
Meadow Hall Elementary School Montgomery 3 6/8/2022
Rachel Carson Elementary School Montgomery 10 6/8/2022
Rochambeau French International School - Bradley Campus Montgomery 18 6/8/2022
Rochambeau French International School - Rollingwood Campus Montgomery 21 6/8/2022
Rochambeau French International School- Forest Rd Campus Montgomery 53 6/8/2022
Seneca Academy Montgomery 8 6/8/2022
Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School Montgomery 9 6/8/2022
Spencerville Adventist Academy Montgomery 7 6/8/2022
St. Andrew's Episcopal School Montgomery 41 6/8/2022
St. Peter's School Montgomery 6 6/8/2022
St. Raphael's School Montgomery 11 6/8/2022
The Academy of the Holy Cross Montgomery 15 6/8/2022
The Barrie School Montgomery 3 6/8/2022
Westover Elementary School Montgomery 13 6/8/2022
William Farquhar Middle School Montgomery 4 6/8/2022
Note: This dataset reflects public and non-public K-12 schools in Maryland that have COVID-19 outbreaks. Data are based on local health department reports to MDH, which may be revised if additional information becomes available. This list does not include child care facilities or institutes of higher education.
Schools listed meet 1 or more of the following criteria:
Classroom/cohort outbreak definition:
1) At least two confirmed COVID-19 cases among students/teachers/staff within a 14-day period and who are epidemiologically linked, but not household contacts; or
School-wide outbreak definition:
2) Three or more classrooms or cohorts with cases from separate households that meet the classroom/cohort outbreak definition that occurs within 14 days; or
3) Five percent or more unrelated students/teachers/staff have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14 day period (minimum of 10 unrelated students/teachers/staff).
Cases reported reflect the current total number of cases. Schools are removed from the list when health officials determine 14 days have passed with no new cases and no tests pending. Archival data is available through the COVID-19 open data catalogue.
These data are updated weekly on Wednesdays during the 10 a.m. hour. MDH is continuously evaluating its data and reporting systems and will make updates as more data becomes available.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Covid Funding Pries Open a Door to Improving Air Quality in Schools
Covid Funding Pries Open a Door to Improving Air Quality in Schools
Many U.S. schools were in dire need of upgrades — burdened by leaking pipes, mold, and antiquated heating systems — long before the covid-19 pandemic drew attention to the importance of indoor ventilation in reducing the spread of infectious disease.
The average U.S. school building is 50 years old, and many schools date back more than a century.
So, one might assume school districts across the nation would welcome the opportunity created by billions of dollars in federal covid-relief money available to upgrade heating and air-conditioning systems and improve air quality and filtration in K-12 schools.
But a report released this month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found most U.S. public schools have made no major investments in improving indoor ventilation and filtration since the start of the pandemic. Instead, the most frequently reported strategies to improve airflow and reduce covid risk were notably low-budget, such as relocating classroom activities outdoors and opening windows and doors, if considered safe.
The CDC report, based on a representative sample of the nation’s public schools, found that fewer than 40% had replaced or upgraded their HVAC systems since the start of the pandemic. Even fewer were using high-efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filters in classrooms (28%), or fans to increase the effectiveness of having windows open (37%).
Both the CDC and White House have stressed indoor ventilation as a potent weapon in the battle to contain covid. Congress has approved billions in funding for public and private schools that can be used for a broad range of covid-related responses — such as providing mental health services, face masks, air filters, new HVAC systems, or tutoring for kids who fell behind.
Among the sizable funding pots for upgrades: $13 billion for schools in the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act; an additional $54 billion approved in December 2020 for schools’ use; and $122 billion for schools from the 2021 American Rescue Plan.
“Improved ventilation helps reduce the spread of covid-19, as well as other infectious diseases such as influenza,” said Catherine Rasberry, branch chief of adolescent and school health at the CDC’s National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. “Investments made now can lead to lasting improvements in health.”
A wealth of data shows that improving ventilation in schools has benefits well beyond covid. Good indoor air quality is associated with improvements in math and reading; greater ability to focus; fewer symptoms of asthma and respiratory disease; and less absenteeism. Nearly 1 in 13 U.S. children have asthma, which leads to more missed school days than any other chronic illness.
“If you look at the research, it shows that a school’s literal climate — the heat, the mold, the humidity — directly affects learning,” said Phyllis Jordan, associate director of FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
Clean-air advocates said the pandemic funding provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make the air more breathable for students and staff members with allergies and asthma, as well as helping schools in California and throughout the drought-stricken West weather the growing threat of smoke inhalation from wildfires.
“This is a huge deal for schools,” said Anisa Heming, director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit that promotes ways to improve indoor air quality. “We haven’t had that amount of money coming from the federal government for school facilities for the last hundred years.”
Still, many school administrators aren’t aware that federal funding for ventilation improvements is available, according to a survey published in May by the Center for Green Schools. About a quarter of school officials said they did not have the resources to improve ventilation, while another quarter were “unsure” whether funding was available, according to the survey.
Even before covid spotlighted the issue of improving airflow, an estimated 36,000 schools needed to update or replace HVAC systems, according to a 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office.
Most schools don’t meet even minimum air quality standards, according to a 2021 report from the Lancet Covid-19 Commission. A pre-pandemic study of Texas schools found that nearly 90% had excessive levels of carbon dioxide, released when people exhale; high concentrations in the air can cause sleepiness, as well as impair concentration and memory.
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Detroit — cities where many older buildings lack air conditioning — have all closed schools this spring due to excessive heat. And a year before the covid pandemic hit, schools in states including Alabama, Idaho, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas closed due to flu outbreaks.
Many schools have been slow to spend covid relief dollars because of the time-consuming process of hiring contractors and getting state or federal approval, said Jordan of FutureEd.
In the first year of the pandemic, many schools assigned custodial staff to wipe down surfaces frequently throughout the day. In Seattle, the district asked staffers to work overtime to help do that cleaning, said Ian Brown, a resource conservation specialist at Seattle Public Schools.
Some school officials say they feel pressured by parents to continue spending money on disposable wipes and surface cleaning, even though science has shown that the coronavirus spreads largely through the air, according to the Center for Green Schools’ report. Parents and teachers sometimes put more faith in conspicuous measures like these than in ventilation improvements that are harder to see.
And not all schools have spent federal funding wisely. A 2021 KHN investigation found that more than 2,000 schools across the country used pandemic relief funds to purchase air-purifying devices that use technology that’s been shown to be ineffective or a potential source of dangerous byproducts.
School districts are required to spend at least 20% of American Rescue Plan aid on academic recovery — such as summer school, instructional materials, and teacher salaries — leading some schools to prioritize those needs ahead of ventilation, Jordan said. But she noted that a FutureEd analysis of school district spending plans indicated districts intend to devote nearly $10 billion from the latest round of funding to ventilation and air filtration in coming years, budgeting about $400 a student.
Los Angeles schools, for example, have budgeted $50 million to provide 55,000 portable commercial-grade air cleaners for classroom use. Durham Public Schools in North Carolina is spending $26 million to update ventilation. Schools in St. Joseph, Missouri, plan to spend more than $20 million to replace aging HVAC systems.
In Boston, the school district has installed 4,000 air quality sensors in classrooms and offices that can be monitored remotely, allowing facilities managers to respond quickly when ventilation suffers.
Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia, meanwhile, purchased “medical-grade” air purifiers for isolation rooms in school nurse offices, where children with covid symptoms wait for pickup. These units are equipped with HEPA filtration and interior ultraviolet light to kill germs, and are powerful enough to clean all the air in the isolation rooms every three minutes.
But workable solutions don’t have to be high-tech.
Seattle Public Schools used relatively inexpensive hand-held sensors to assess air quality in every classroom, Brown said. The district then purchased portable air cleaners for classrooms with inadequate ventilation rates.
While replacing a central air system is a major construction project that can easily top $1 million per school, quality HEPA purifiers — which have proven effective at removing the coronavirus from the air — run closer to $300 to $400.
About 70% of schools have at least inspected their heating and ventilation systems since the pandemic emerged, a key first step to making repairs, according to the CDC.
Engineers in Ann Arbor, Michigan, have inspected “every piece of mechanical ventilation in the school district, opening up every unit and inspecting the fans and pumps and dampers to make sure they’re operating properly,” said Emile Lauzzana, executive director of capital projects for Ann Arbor Public Schools.
“That’s just something that school districts don’t normally have the funds to do a deep dive on,” Lauzzana said. “It’s unfortunate that it took a pandemic to get us here, but we’re in a much better place with indoor air quality today.”
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.Subscribe to KHN's free Morning Briefing.
Monday, June 13, 2022
List of Schools without Air Conditioning Today
Sorry, this list is for Baltimore City Public Schools.
Montgomery County Public Schools doesn't believe in putting out this kind of basic information about their buildings.
The Parents' Coalition has received reports of MCPS school buildings without air conditioning today including McNair Elementary and Poolesville Elementary Schools. But that's only a partial list based on information we have received. The full list of schools with air conditioning issues is not available.
Schools without air-conditioning
LAST UPDATED: June 13, 2022
The schools listed below will close or have early dismissal on extremely hot days, or that feel warmer due to a combination of heat and humidity. Schools not listed below have air-conditioning (but may dismiss early, if their systems require repair that cannot be completed within one day).
To find your school's dismissal time, please visit the school's profile page.
- Baltimore City College
- Benjamin Franklin High School at Masonville Cove
- City Springs Elementary/Middle School
- Collington Square Elementary/Middle School
- Cross Country Elementary/Middle School
- Curtis Bay Elementary/Middle School
- Elementary Middle Alternative Program @ PDC
- Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary School
- Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School
- Furley Elementary School
- Harlem Park Elementary/Middle School
- Johnston Square Elementary School
- Montebello Elementary/Middle School @ PDC
- National Academy Foundation
- New Era Academy
- Vanguard Collegiate Middle School
- Yorkwood Elementary School
- The Mount Washington School (lower building)
Schools with air conditioning that is currently under repair and will close or have early dismissal on extremely hot days:
- Academy for College and Career Exploration
- Calvin M. Rodwell Elementary/Middle School
- Dr. Bernard Harris, Sr., Elementary School
- Garrett Heights Elementary/Middle School
- George Washington Elementary School
- George W.F. McMechen High School
- Independence School Local I High School
- North Bend Elementary/Middle School
- Pimlico Elementary/Middle School
- Sandtown-Winchester Achievement Academy
- Tench Tilghman Elementary/Middle School
- Westport Academy
- Midtown Academy (building not owned by City Schools)
- Youth Opportunity (building not owned by City Schools)
City Schools does not plan to install air-conditioning for these schools and alternative programs, because their buildings are not owned by the district:
- Empowerment Academy