Following complaints from NYC public school teachers about uncomfortably chilly temperatures in some classrooms, the city Department of Education has put forth a plan intended to keep classrooms warm even when windows must remain open to slow the spread of COVID-19. The plan will include air purifiers, space heaters, and filters to ensure proper airflow, in addition to keeping windows open in rooms with poor ventilation.
The approach will vary depending on the needs of each school, according to a three-page memo drafted by the DOE and obtained by Gothamist. The plan states that 13,700 more MERV-13 filters will be ordered and installed in school HVAC systems to help keep the virus out of the air in classrooms. These filters -- adding to an already existing supply -- are ordered in accordance with guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends high-quality filters to combat COVID-19.
The remaining HVAC filters are scheduled to arrive between mid-November and mid-January, 2021. More filter deliveries will come weekly, which the DOE says "will allow all buildings to have at least one complete filter set installed."
The city is also ordering another 20,000 HEPA-rated air purifier units for schools, adding to the 10,000 it already ordered for the start of in-person learning. Those new air purifiers will be prioritized to classrooms with "limited windows and no mechanical ventilation," inoperable windows, and with no windows at all.
The memo also recommended windows continue to stay open for ventilation, in accordance with CDC guidelines. In warmer climates, the practice of keeping windows open to reduce the risk of COVID's spread year-round would work. But in New York City — the only major city in the country to have offered blended learning — keeping windows open is unsustainable even if the heat is on, according to teachers who have already felt the brunt of this method.
At Seward Park Educational Campus, home to five schools occupying a 92-year-old building on the Lower East Side, English teacher Christopher Ahearn says he and his bundled-up students have had to endure cold temperatures resulting from open windows. Though the most recent weather in NYC has been unseasonably warm, Ahearn says classroom radiators that are positioned under windows are insufficient for typical fall and winter temperatures.
Earlier this month, Ahearn snapped a photo of the classroom's indoor temperature showing 55 degrees. On Monday, when wind gusts contributed to a chilly day, Ahearn's colleagues said one classroom had a temperature reading of 48 degrees.
The World Health Organization generally recommends classrooms maintain a minimum temperature of 67.5 degrees. "We are well below that," Ahearn said.
The temperature inside a classroom at the Seward Park Educational Campus reads 48 degrees.
A teacher in Brooklyn, who asked for anonymity because she wasn't authorized to speak to the press, said she had to wear a heavy coat last Monday inside her classroom. "My kids all came in extra layers because I asked their parents to send them in. Their little hands were so cold. Our colleagues were so cold," the teacher wrote in an email.
Ahearn and other teachers have expressed concerns to administrators over conditions in the classrooms, but were advised to wear additional layers.
"I think the prevailing wisdom among the staff here at least is that once we get into the depths of November and December [...] something's gonna have to give," Ahearn said. "They'll either have to make all the students go remote from our building, or there will have to be some kind of space heaters or — I don't even know how that would work with fire codes — but it just does not seem like a tenable situation."
The plan does state that an undetermined number of space heaters will be available across the system.
Tayloire Howard, a Brooklyn parent whose child attends P.S. 321, said a mass email sent to parents advised them send their kids' to school equipped with additional layers of clothing.
A message parents of students at P.S. 321 were sent recently.
Before schools reopened, the DOE dispatched School Ventilation Action Teams to assess whether the city's 56,000 classrooms could be safely occupied. Roughly 95% of the classrooms were approved for occupancy following a CDC-recommended tissue test to assess airflow. Classrooms with open windows — but no proper HVAC systems — were still approved for occupancy.
DOE spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said in a statement to Gothamist that a safe, healthy environment is of utmost concern to the city.
“Every student and staff member deserves a comfortable and safe learning environment and we are working with our labor partners to ensure this is true in every classroom," Styer said. "If temperature is a concern, educators should immediately contact their custodial engineer and they will work to raise the classroom temperature. Our multi-layered approach to keeping classrooms safe and healthy requires the combination of social distancing, hand washing, universal mask wearing, testing, and improved ventilation.”
