Less than a month before the new school term begins, can students and parents at El Marino Language School anticipate improved air in classrooms following months of experimentation?
Dogged for years by dirt-strewn air from the nearby San Diego Freeway, is there reason for a speck of optimism?
“We are pursuing a couple of different approaches,” said Mike Reynolds, assistant superintendent for business for the School District.
“One is a prototype for an air mitigation system that will provide enhanced ventilation to the classrooms. It will have a series of vents, a robust fan and it will have air mitigation filters that are required to deal with the particulates from the freeway,” Mr. Reynolds said.
“This is an air mitigation solution that has circulation features as well.”
He said that system should be installed in the next two weeks.
In a separate but related development, Mr. Reynolds said that Charles Wren of Harris & Associates, the School District’s bond program manager, “has been meeting with another vendor who has been proposing a similar solution. We are exploring that as well.
“We want to have the prototype in before school resumes (Aug. 24) so we can do some testing. But we are hoping for the next couple of weeks.”
The process just described are, presumably, the last stages of an experimental plan begun during the spring, and taking more time than expected.
“We decided,” said Mr. Reynolds, “in association with interested community members at El Marino, that we wanted to find the best solution even if it took a little longer than planned.”
By or before mid-August, Mr. Reynolds said that “the prototype unit will be installed in one of the classrooms. We set the baseline previously with the initial pilot system we installed well over a year ago. We established through that installation that we could remove up to 95 percent of the particulates within a classroom.
“This is a second approach to determine if the prototype we have developed, once installed, we are certain as we can be that it will remove up to 95 percent of particulates because it is using the same filters,” Mr. Reynolds said.
The District must realize that the health and safety of our children cannot be merely secured by only mitigating some of the health risks at El Marino. Our children’s health is not a derivative to be mathematically manipulated in some cold, scientific cost/risk analysis.
Even with the installation of classroom filters, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that these young students are still being exposed to the same serious health risks when they play or exercise outside.
An all-encompassing solution is needed. And not just because the El Marino site is polluted. We choose to live in a large metropolitan area, knowing full-well that most of the Los Angeles basin is polluted to some extent. El Marino’s particular problem is mainly due to its location right next to the heavily traveled 405 Fwy.
Dr Sabty-Daily opened this can of worms and it should not be closed until this school is off-limits to young students. The good doctor knows and understands the conditions inherent to the site and the overall health risks our children are being exposed to every school day. But, she chose only to crack open this Pandora’s Box with just enough information to convince Board members to put in classroom air filtration.
Board members even might try to defend or even justify their actions by saying that it’s better to do something, now, than to do nothing at all. This may be a good sound bite making them look and feel good about passing this short-sighted solution. But, this reasoning leaves the more complete, simple solution, conveniently unspoken.
The proposed partial fix fails even to acknowledge the best solution possible. So, yes, mitigating the classroom air is better than doing nothing at all. But, there is no denying that moving these younger, more vulnerable, students away from the concentrated pollutants billowing off the freeway, is actually what is best for their health and safety.
The district shouldn’t be looking only to mitigate their risks at El Marino, It should simply do what’s best for our children’s health!
In previous years, boards could argue that the district didn’t have the funds available to build a brand new elementary school. But, that is not the case now, not since the passage of the district’s $106M bond measure.
Board members need to take off their blinders, do what’s best for our youngest, most vulnerable students
… and move them out of harm’s way!
Dear Mr. Laase, Years later after I originally brought the air quality issue of El Marino to the attention of the residents of Culver City and the School Board in typical Culver City politics fashion, nothing has been done. What’s happening to the Natatorium Pool, deserted for over 20 years and counting. PhD, JD, money, no money it doesn’t matter just recycled inaction. Again a reminder just in case you haven’t noticed. The schools, administration building, city hall, main fire station have been neglected for years It’s the Culver City Culture. Keep supporting them George.