There is said to be a constant plume of pollution and ultra-fine particulates emanating from truck and automobile traffic on the 405 Freeway. The combination of seasonal weather and daily traffic patterns can alleviate or exacerbate the concentration of these pollutants on the campus of the nearby El Marino Language School.
El Marino parents are trying to stop this pollution from entering their children’s classrooms and aggravating respiratory conditions.
Breathing a Little Easier?
There is a push, spearheaded by the United Parents of Culver City, to relieve these parents’ health concerns especially for those students (less than 15 percent) with reactive airways or asthma. Parents are advocating purchasing an expensive, school-wide air filtration system that would only partially mitigate the school's air quality problems and not fix or correct it.
Misguided
If the UPCC were advocating for all the students, as it claims, it would be demanding that the Culver City USD remove the immersion program and all its students from this terribly troubled school site.
State Standards
California building codes require that classrooms must have ventilation rates of at least 7.1 liters per second per person or about 15 cu feet of air per minute per person. State studies have shown that most K-12 classrooms throughout the state have average ventilation rates of less than 60 percent (4 liters) of the state standard.
Research studies are showing that by increasing classroom ventilation to state-mandated standards or higher school districts can reduce student absenteeism caused by illness by 3.4 percent.
How Do We Rate?
I wonder what the classroom ventilation rates are across the CCUSD, especially at El Marino, since it is next to the 405. How would adding the proposed air filtration systems and/or air conditioning to these classrooms affect air flow rates? Would adding these systems increase or decrease classroom ventilation?
Decreasing Flow
Installing air conditioners and filtration systems school-wide would surely increase the comfort level in the classrooms. Studies, though, have shown that by using air conditioning and/or filtration systems, classroom ventilation would decrease.
The Big Picture
The health concerns of all our school children are of great importance. But in trying only to mitigate these students' respiratory health concerns, let’s not lose sight of our state's classroom ventilation standards and the overall well-being of their classmates and teachers in the room.
If this compromised school site is not a healthy place for learning, it is our District's obligation and duty to remove all the students from this site.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
