In preparation of students returning to school, custodial teams, the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) and the Division of School Facilities have been working since early June to make sure the city’s roughly 1,800 school buildings have adequate ventilation, among other safety measures.
370 NYC school buildings were inspected in just two days, leading SCA President Lorraine Grillo to remark, “I just want to say that in my 26-plus years as an employee of the School Construction Authority, I have never seen such an unprecedented effort—370 buildings visited in two days.”
The OLA team has been working with school districts throughout New York City and the Hudson Valley to analyze HVAC system functionality, ventilation rates and air filtration systems. OLA Principal, James F. Dolan, also met with Mayor Bill de Blasio this summer to discuss SCA’s program for reviewing ventilations systems in New York City public schools.
CREATING HEALTHY INDOOR SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS
Because of COVID-19, added scrutiny is placed on indoor environments. These areas are critical in regards to controlling the spread of the virus, and with schools reopening soon, it is important that school building systems be reviewed frequently. It is necessary to assess your building’s ventilation equipment operation and review the system’s ability to increase outdoor air ventilation rates and/or increase filtration efficiency. Remember that every system is different, so equipment capacity and fan horsepower needs to be evaluated in order to enhance the health of indoor environments. School inspections provide a full understanding of your building system’s health and aides in maximizing system functionality.370 NYC School Buildings Inspected in 2 Days—New York 1010 WINS
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