The World Health Network has a 30 minute video out about Safe Schools with a small panel of people looking at how to make schools DavosSafe!
Michael Bailey, co-founder of Indoor Air Care Advocates, talked about ventilation and filtration. They published a parent advocacy guide to help parents advocate for clean air in schools. Their plan includes:
- air quality plan that includes monitoring CO2
- improving and quantifying ventilation (quantifying is most important)
- portable HEPA or CR boxes to get 6-12 air changes per hour (ACH)
- operating HVAC fans with Merv 13 or better
- avoiding any tech that's not recommended, like ionization and foggers
If schools make promises, watch out for "to the extent possible" because that needs to be challenged. If we do all these things, then we can reduce exposure by 80% or better, so we still need N95s and testing. If parents get dubious responses from school, we can send CO2 monitors to classes with students to help characterize ventilation to refute outrageous claims. For example, one father was told the classroom has 10-12 ACH, but his kid's CO2 monitor showed closer to 4ACH, and then the open record request confirmed the lower air change rate. We have ways of getting solid information.
Antonio Buehler is the Director of Abrome, a small private school in Texas that goes above and beyond when it comes to airborne protections. They shut down before the official lockdowns took places. Currently they all mask indoors, and everyone goes outdoors to eat. They've decided to be a fully vaccinated community even though some kids weren't vaccinated pre-Covid. They're still distancing with a reduced capacity when case numbers of high, and they're ready for remote learning if cases get too high. They also added in family pooled diagnostic LAMP testing for extra safety.
Colleen Miller is the Executive Director of the disAbility Law Center of Virginia. They won a court case around masks. There was a government executive order that said parents can decide whether their kids wear masks or not, but this violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Government entities are required to make reasonable modifications to accommodate disabilities, and the nature of this rule violated that, because if a person with a disability needed modifications in order to go to school, the school would not be able to do that, which contravened the law.
The lawsuit didn't try to get universal masking in schools, but act on behalf of 12 specific children who couldn't go to school unless their classmates masks. They wanted the ability to request and negotiate whether peers and teachers could mask. So now, parents can requests masks at school, and the school can ask for more information, and they engage in a discussion around how to protect the rights of everyone in the classroom. In the vast majority of cases, that's how it's resolved. 98% of issues are resolved in negotiation. And if they're not able to, then parents can file a claim under the Disability Act.
Shea O'Neil is a WHN School Safety Team Member who's working on a guide using anti-discrimination law as a tool to make accommodation requests for the prevention of Covid. Schools must consider people at risk for getting very sick with Covid. They require additional protections, and this is a formal way to get discussion going between parents and schools. The negotiation process must be decided on a case by case basis that looks at (1) how to keep the child in the classroom and (2) without undue hardship to the school. It's important that the school and family remember that it's not about politics, but about creating an inclusive environment for students and families who are at risk of becoming very sick.
You can join the WHN Community Chat on Discord to discuss this further.
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