With masks optional for Hawaii public and charter schools starting fall semester, ventilation will play a key role in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in classrooms.
The state Department of Education announced July 12 that masks will no longer be mandated inside classrooms, and the Hawaii State Teachers Association has been raising questions and working with the DOE on ventilation strategies to ensure the safety of teachers and students.
“Ventilation is absolutely important,” said HSTA Deputy Executive Director Andrea Eshelman, who serves as chief negotiator between the teachers’ union and the DOE. “We have been actively asking for information since the beginning of the pandemic around ventilation and classroom spaces.
“We want an accurate list of the classrooms and work spaces that they have assessed, what that assessment standard was, whether they had communicated that with the employees and families that have students in those classrooms, and what the steps are going to be to address that.”
DOE spokesman Derek Inoshita stated that since 2020, the department has invested in 4,200 high-efficiency particulate air purifiers, 650 carbon dioxide sensors, 12,000 box fans, 53 base stations and 396 sensors for a pilot remote-sensing dashboard at select schools.
“The department is currently undertaking a facilities asset management assessment, using trained technicians and engineering teams,” he said. “Ventilation guidance for schools has been included in the department’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidance document.”
Additional DOH Health and Safety Guidance ventilation strategies include moving activities and classes outdoors when possible, opening windows and doors, using fans, ensuring air-conditioning settings are maximizing ventilation, making sure ventilation systems are serviced and operating, placing exhaust fans in restrooms and kitchens, and setting HVAC systems (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) to bring in outdoor air.
“Improving ventilation is an important COVID-19 prevention strategy that can reduce SARS-CoV1 virus in the air,” the DOH guidance states. “Bringing fresh outdoor air into a building reduces virus concentration inside.”
But HSTA representatives feel many implementation and measurement strategies are not yet complete.
“I really couldn’t tell you what the measurements are,” Eshelman said. “We don’t know if a parent goes to a school and says ‘can you tell me if my kids’ classroom is properly ventilated.’ We don’t know if principals are able to properly answer that question.”
The concern extends to the implementation of the 12,000 new box fans.
“The department did distribute to classrooms one box fan per classroom for most classrooms, but not all,” said HSTA President Osa Tui Jr. “It wasn’t determined based on the size of the classroom,” adding “what is a box fan going to do when there’s no trade winds blowing in?”
Initial measurements collected from the carbon dioxide monitors were sent to the union, but data was from just 40 schools out of the 294-school district.
“When we looked at the data we got from them, it was just 40 schools throughout the state, only three of which were Big Island,” Tui said. “We continue to ask questions about that data — how did they get that data, what about the other rooms that are not listed, what about the other schools?”
The DOE responded by sharing a list of additional mitigation measures completed so far.
“There are approximately 12,000 classrooms statewide with a wide range of ventilation configurations,” said Inoshita, adding the DOE installed “over 7,100 minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV)-13 filters and 600 rolls of duct tape to convert 1,800 box fans to Corsi-Rosenthal box air cleaners.”
The reporting filters are intended to provide information about classroom ventilation levels, and the Corsi-Rosenthal boxes are do-it-yourself air-purifiers designed to remove particles.
HSTA is concerned the decision to make masks optional for students will contribute to another substitute teaching shortage if ventilation cannot reduce a potential spread of COVID-19.
“We’re very concerned that there’s once again not going to be enough substitutes to handle what’s definitely going to be a rise in cases in our classrooms,” Tui said. “A lot of our substitutes come from our retired teacher groups. Now, with no masking required, even more substitute teachers are going to say, ‘I’m not going in.’”
In the 2020-21 school year, retirement rates for teachers within the DOE increased by nearly 33%, mostly due to concerns related to COVID-19, according to the union.
The lack of teachers resulted in what Tui refers to as students being “warehoused.”
“Kids are probably going to have to be warehoused once again, the word I use when we have to use our cafeterias and auditoriums and gyms because there’s just not enough workers to go around,” he said.
HSTA has provided guidance for teachers, recommending masks where cases are on the rise and staying up to date on vaccinations.
“If students are going to come in without masks, well, at least the teachers can be masked,” Tui said. “Everyone should be masking as much as possible, especially considering the caseloads that we continue to have, and even those numbers don’t accurately reflect all the people who are taking home tests.”
As for students returning to school this week, Tui recommended a similar strategy.
“Get those vaccinations, get those boosters as available, and wear masks as much as possible, because we’re going to see spikes in transmission,” he said. “That’s for sure with this new rule.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.