School Ventilation Improvement Measures
Improving ventilation has been a common goal over the last couple of years for improved health and safety. As students and staff return to school and spend increased amount of time indoors as the weather cools, it is vitally important that school communities are aware of the measures being taken in schools to improve ventilation and filtration.
Superior-Greenstone District School Board has been committed to improve the air quality in our schools throughout the Board. Here are some other measures that are complete or will be completed at your school:
Installation of Fresh-Aire Germicidal UV Active Air Purification
Fresh-Aire UV germicidal UVC light systems reduce the risk of airborne infectious diseases. Viruses, bacteria, and mold (like microbes) have no defense against UVC light, which is present in sunlight but it filtered out by the Earth's atmosphere. The very short 254 nm wavelength of UVC light is able to penetrate the cell walls of micro organisms and disrupt their DNA which inactivates them.
Enhanced Air Flow and Filtration
SGDSB is in the fortunate position to have the majority of our buildings fully mechanically ventilated, which means they are equipped with a modern, robust ventilation system. As such, we are able to improve ventilation and air quality in several ways, including installing MERV 13 filters and changing them more frequently, increasing the volume of outdoor air, completing pre or post occupancy air purges.
HEPA Air Purification
Portable HEPA Air Cleaners use a combination of medical grade HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) Filters, UVC Germicidal Light that is NOT ozone-producing and Photo Catalytic Oxidation to remove and destroy allergens, contaminants, viruses, bacteria, mold, odors, VOC’s and more down to 0.3 micron with 99.97% efficiency on the first pass of air. One portable unit can clean up to 763 ft² with 3 air changes per hour and larger spaces for the wall mount units.
There are HEPA air cleaners located throughout your school. These units will enhance ventilation and will be installed in various schools across the district. Furthermore, as of February 2022 we have received additional units supplied by the Ministry of Education on top of the units they have provided already. All of these individual units have HEPA-level filtration and filter the air within spaces that are not fully mechanically ventilated. All Kindergarten classrooms, regardless of ventilation type, have also been given improved HEPA-level filtration systems. Any additional units in schools are being placed to provide improved air quality in addition to the optimized ventilation system.
Other measures
In addition to the measures noted above, here are other measures that our Building Services staff have been undertaking:
1) Increasing runtime of mechanical ventilation before and after school hours,
2) Ensuring issues with ventilation systems are dealt with as soon as possible,
3) Changing filters more frequently.
The Ministry of Education has mandated that school boards across Ontario post ventilation information to enhance transparency for students, parents and staff and provide consistent communication across the province about measures taken to improve air quality in schools.
In the spreadsheet provided, parents can search by school to see what improvements have been made to their child(ren)’s school(s).
Please click on the file below to access the SGDSB Ventilation Measures Report.
Please note: When viewing this document you must click on the 'Enable Editing' button located at top of the spreadsheet to view contents of Tab 1 and Tab 2.