There are some great bits in this webinar by @UNISONinSchools about air quality in schools.

There are some great bits in this webinar by @UNISONinSchools about air quality in schools.
Did you catch these bits on how clean air can help... https://t.co/Fi1T8P4Xbv pic.twitter.com/xl6Sm2cQMa

— tern (@1goodtern) May 28, 2025

Per U.S. Gov Air Quality Index, Montgomery County is now in Code Purple (11am Thursday June 8th)

 

From airnow.gov, the U.S Air Quality Index, here. Code Purple: Very Unhealthy. Stay indoors. Please keep your pets indoors.

KUOW: 'They Need To Go': The Environmental And Health Costs Of Portable Classrooms

...Those short-term fixes can lead to chronic problems. They burden schools with high energy costs and frequent maintenance needs. They expose students and teachers to mold and mildew, poor ventilation and the potential for volatile gases from cheap building materials...

...“If you can smell the humanity and taste the humidity, you know you have a ventilation issue,” Blake says.

Next comes a device that resembles a remote control and detects carbon dioxide (CO2) levels.

He runs a wire through what looks like a windsock and holds one end to the CO2 monitor, the other to the ceiling vent. The tool, which Prill sewed for him from a lampshade, funnels air directly into the device for a better reading.

Blake uses carbon dioxide as an indicator of whether enough fresh air passes through a room or if students are breathing germs, allergens and chemicals that accumulate in stagnant air. All of these trigger asthma — one of the leading causes of both school absences and child hospitalizations, Blake says.

When Blake started this work in 1995, Bellingham opened its doors to him first. It was a courageous move, he says. For most schools throughout Oregon and Washington — and the rest of the country — there is no Dave Blake. There is no ghostbuster to call...

http://kuow.org/post/they-need-go-environmental-and-health-costs-portable-classrooms

Hogan and Franchot take an 'astonishing' step

The obsession with window air conditioning in Baltimore county and city public schools by Comptroller Peter Franchot, joined of late by Gov. Larry Hogan, is no longer amusing. On Wednesday, their heavy-handed tactics to force local officials to immediately install window units in some 4,000 classrooms went beyond political grandstanding into the realm of doing real damage to students and to a system of making hard choices on how to allocate limited funds that has long served the state well. The governor and comptroller decided to hold back $10 million to renovate county schools and $5 million for city schools unless city and county officials do something that is probably impossible, possibly illegal and certainly fiscally wasteful. In the process, they disrespected the Baltimore County superintendent, smeared the integrity of the attorney general and his staff, bullied the treasurer and prompted the man who has guided the state's school construction program for 13 years to resign. It was ugly, unbecoming and ultimately unproductive...

 http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-air-conditioning-20160512-story.html

Fourteen million absences — or one-third of all missed school days — are due to asthma

Report: Chronic school absenteeism is contributing to academic gaps