Parents, health professionals urge Portland SD 1J to add indoor air and environmental health goals

Several parents, public-health professionals and volunteers urged Portland SD 1J's Policy Committee to add explicit environmental health and indoor air goals to district policy, saying changes could reduce respiratory illness and support learning.

Mandy Green, a public health consultant and epidemiologist, told the committee that "most of our exposure to outdoor air pollutants occurs indoors" and urged board-level guidance to protect students and staff from wildfire smoke and diesel pollution. Alicia Cohen, founder of Wood Smoke Free PDX and a Benson parent, highlighted the health harms of PM2.5 from wood smoke and wildfires and argued lower PM2.5 improves cognitive outcomes and attendance.

Kelsey Feruta, a parent with children in Portland schools, described helping principals and teachers request additional air purifiers and pressed the committee to add language on overheating and building temperatures, noting that emergency epinephrine "must be kept between 68 and 77 degrees" and that, according to her testimony, some school rooms had experienced wide temperature swings earlier in the year. Amy Farrell, a health professional, said room filtration and air purifiers reduce transmission of influenza, RSV and COVID-19 and asked the district to include environmental health guidance in the climate and sustainability policy to help prevent respiratory virus transmission.

Committee members discussed whether the proposed language should live in policy, facilities operations, or both. The committee chair asked staff to research the costs and technical feasibility of achieving 6—12 air changes per hour and whether existing filtration systems can meet the standard or whether HVAC upgrades will be needed. Staff were also asked to coordinate across facilities and teaching-and-learning teams and to report back with cost and implementation options.

The committee did not adopt specific policy language at the meeting but agreed to gather technical and cost information and to coordinate further with facilities staff before deciding whether to integrate specific indoor air and environmental health goals into the climate response policy or keep the matter in facilities operations.