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Parents and scientists warn district that many remodeled buildings lack up-to-date airflow reports
Summary
Public commenters told the board that recent remodels and new buildings in PPS lack current airflow/ventilation reports needed to verify indoor air quality and to size filtration; speakers urged commissioning and LEED Gold standards for future projects.
Epidemiologist Mandy Green and parents and volunteers with Safe and Healthy Air for Oregon Schools told the board on April 8 that several PPS modernizations and new school buildings lack updated airflow reports that measure ventilation performance in occupied classrooms.
"The Benson airflow report is actually a Marshall airflow report," Mandy Green said, referring to a report done when Benson students occupied another building; Green told the board she could not find a current airflow report for Benson, Lincoln, Access Academy, or multiple pathway buildings now in use. Green said the lack of up-to-date measurements prevents staff from verifying whether recent HVAC overhauls improved ventilation or from calculating how much in-room filtration individual rooms need.
Nut graf: Speakers asked the district to require post-construction commissioning or formal airflow reports for modernized and newly built schools, and to maintain LEED Gold standards for material selection to limit volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Commenters argued commissioning and ventilation measurements are essential to confirm whether systems actually deliver health-protective air exchange rates.
Sarah Silke, a parent and civil engineer, told the board the district already had airflow measurements for most buildings in 2021 and asked for a policy that requires airflow reports or full commissioning for new and modernized buildings to verify HVAC performance and guide in-room filtration. Silke cited McDaniel High School's post-construction airflow results, which she said found dozens of classrooms with low air-change rates in the new building, and warned that similar assumptions at other sites could leave rooms under-ventilated.
Speakers also urged maintaining LEED Gold certification and avoiding cheaper materials that off-gas formaldehyde, xylene or other VOCs. "Seeking out cheaper building materials combined with not doing LEED certification could easily destroy our good air quality practices around VOCs," said Sarah Silke.
Ending: District staff acknowledged the concerns and described where updated airflow tests exist; speakers asked the board to adopt commissioning and LEED standards as part of modernization and new-construction planning. The board heard the comments but did not vote on a new ventilation or materials policy at the meeting.
