Second in a series.
Re: “Levin Tracks the School Bond Projects”
In the spirit of carrying out school bond improvement projects, “I am not the only one,” says School Board member Steve Levin, “but I have been pushing” to complete installation of an air filtration system at El Marino Language School to relieve what is perceived as a longtime health threat to the El Marino adult and child community.
Filthy air streaming down from the nearby 405 Freeway has been a hazard without an assured solution.
“That job needs to be done quickly,” Mr. Levin said, “because every year we have kindergarteners in there breathing air that might be unhealthy, we are taking a risk we don’t want to take.”
Mr. Levin, a rocket scientist at CalTech, expressed frustration at the pace of the work. “Everything seems to go slower than I would like. But people are working in good faith to do it as quickly as possible.”
Installation is not the end.
“There is a question from the El Marino community,” said Mr. Levin, “whether the system will work without air conditioning.
“It is being done in such a way that it will be possible to add air conditioning.
“We will try to have a good answer on that,” he said, “before we pull the trigger on whether we need air conditioning as well.”
(To be continued)
There is an air quality problem at El Marino. But, just filtering the air in the classroom would mitigate only some of the unhealthy effects. Classroom filters would do nothing about the pollution being breathed in faster and deeper by the students while running around on the playgrounds having fun during their recess and PE classes. For some of the contaminates billowing off the 405 Fwy on to the school site, once they have entered into the blood stream, it takes the body about 24-hours to flush them out of its system.
We don’t live in San Bernardino or Riverside counties. El Marino does not need air conditioning. It is situated about 3 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Sunkist Park receives a sea breeze most every day around noon, which cool things off. The only days it does not arrive is when there’s a Santa Ana blowing in from the east. But, how often does that occur?
The district administration understands that if El Marino receives the added benefit of air conditioning to its 32 proposed rooms, the other schools in the district, further inland, would probably demand AC be put in at their sites also. How much would that cost the district in construction and in ongoing electricity bills?