![September 17, 2021 - Teacher Kristen Record for years would get sick when school returned, and she equated it to seasonal allergies. Turns out the air quality in her school was making her and others in her school sick. [Photographed by Allison Minto]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9b26504/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4846x3224+0+0/resize/840x558!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fbc%2Fcf%2F4ee2f73e441c81350c6aadd75290%2Fatm9819a.jpg)
Kristen Record is a physics teacher at Bunnell High School in Stratford, and every fall when school resumed, so would her migraines and coughing.
鈥淚 had always associated the start of the school year with seasonal allergies,鈥� she said.
Record is part of a growing number of educators who say poor ventilation in their classrooms and other contaminants are making them sick. The state鈥檚 largest teachers union says that each year more educators are filing workers' compensation cases related to air quality issues in their schools.
鈥滻t鈥檚 not just the air that is making teachers sick, it鈥檚 ventilation, it鈥檚 heating and air conditioning,鈥� said Melanie Kolek, an attorney with the 黑料吃瓜网 Education Association. 鈥淪ome teachers come to me with rashes all over their body.鈥�
In Stratford, Record and other teachers suspected their air in their classrooms was making them sick, but there was no way for them to know because there are no air quality standards or inspection requirements for schools. It took the extraordinary step of staff pinpointing the problem themselves 鈥� the carpet and the toxins in the chipped tile beneath it 鈥� and finding a loophole to get it replaced.
鈥淲e filed a second complaint about trip hazards, and that鈥檚 what it took to get the carpet removed,鈥� she said.
If staff suspect that high dosages of certain chemicals are making them sick at work, they can file a complaint. But teachers union officials say such air quality complaints don鈥檛 have much success because the standards are so low.
For Record, the loophole that led to new flooring for the school helped her.
鈥淲ow, I wasn鈥檛 the one that was sick, it was my classroom that was sick.鈥�
So how many other classrooms throughout 黑料吃瓜网 are sick?
There鈥檚 an easy way to find out because the Lamont administration surveyed 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 1,200 schools last winter to assess the ventilation systems and the presence of contaminants like mold. All but 11 districts responded.
But the Lamont administration has denied 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 requests since early August to release those responses, saying they鈥檙e waiting until their final report 鈥� by the legislature 鈥� is ready.
Konstantinos Diamantis, deputy secretary for the governor鈥檚 budget and policy office and the director of school construction, couldn鈥檛 say when the responses will be available or the final report complete.
鈥淲e have one data analyst and he has other jobs besides that survey, so we鈥檙e just not done with it yet. I will be happy to share, as soon as I have it to share, rather than pieces of it. I don鈥檛 have a completed report,鈥� he said.
The state used to publish a regular inventory of the health of school facilities. That survey and its report was done every two years, and parents and educators could look up the results . That stopped in the years leading up to a landmark school funding trial, where the .
The last was in 2013. It reveals that dozens of schools were facing air quality issues, and local officials had no immediate plans to address the problems.
Despite COVID, still no air quality requirements
Good ventilation in school classrooms is a key ingredient to reducing the spread of COVID-19, something the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the pandemic.
But only California and New Jersey have indoor air quality requirements for public schools and other government buildings. for that to change. The Lamont administration declined to weigh in on whether it supports such requirements for 黑料吃瓜网 as awareness grows around the role that poor ventilation can play in the spread of certain diseases.
Paula Schenck, an expert at UConn Health on indoor air quality, said the state does provide free consulting for school officials on improving air quality, but some misunderstand that they will be forced to make expensive upgrades.
鈥淭here are no standards where I can say there鈥檚 OSHA oversight, there鈥檚 EPA oversight, there鈥檚 CDC oversight. Here鈥檚 what there is: guidance,鈥� she said.
Sick schools in 黑料吃瓜网 left on their own
Diamantis says the administration won鈥檛 be paying for ventilation systems to be replaced, repaired or upgraded during the pandemic just because many local officials haven鈥檛 prioritized ventilation for years.
鈥淭he issue of HVAC systems being failed to be maintained should have been maintained before we even knew about COVID-19. That is my frustration,鈥� Diamantis said. 鈥淐OVID is really a result that has brought everyone to their knees to understand the value of maintaining your HVAC systems. In most cases, the maintenance budgets for HVAC systems are last when people have to pick between books or other things that teachers may need. So as a result, those systems suffer, which is what I get as an excuse as to why they fail to maintain their systems,鈥� he said.
Local officials, however, say that explanation isn鈥檛 fair.
What鈥檚 really happening is that the ventilation systems in so many schools are well over 20- or 30-year old, which experts say should be the life of a ventilation system. The 2013 survey had a long list of schools with systems much older than that.
![September 17, 2021 - Teacher Kristen Record for years would get sick when school returned, and she equated it to seasonal allergies. Turns out the air quality in her school was making her and others in her school sick. [Photographed by Allison Minto]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/68fc2f2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5830x3879+0+0/resize/840x558!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F95%2Fde%2F1fa943f64ed1ba4e2bbc7751a9c5%2Fatm9899a.jpg)
"Most schools are designed and were done in a period of the 鈥�50s and 鈥�60s. So the ventilation was done in a different standard, different way of doing things,鈥� said Scott Fitch, co-owner of Innovative Construction and Design Solutions, a company that helps schools in 黑料吃瓜网 with ventilation systems. 鈥淣owadays we have comprehensive standards that are developed by American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers, which provides the ventilation requirements."
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I鈥檝e seen poor maintenance or good maintenance. I mean, it seems adequate,鈥� he said of the schools he鈥檚 worked in.
In Coventry, for example, the district is asking the state for help with the $6.1 million bill to replace decades-old systems in its middle and high schools. Coventry Town Manager John Elsesser said they鈥檝e done the upgrades and maintained their systems, but the systems are from another era and don鈥檛 protect children from the virus spreading at anywhere near the level that a new system would.
鈥淭his is pretty standard system for its day 鈥� but technology changes and standards change. An old rotary phone won't send an email or text message. That's the type of technology change we鈥檙e talking about here,鈥� he said.
Fitch, who works with Coventry Public Schools, agrees.
鈥淭o say that that鈥檚 a maintenance issue for why they have to upgrade and change, I don鈥檛 know if that鈥檚 true. That鈥檚 a whole paradigm shift of HVAC system design.鈥�
As the pandemic continues to spotlight long-standing issues with the state鈥檚 school buildings, a by the teachers union of nearly 1,000 黑料吃瓜网 educators found that only 27% believed their school鈥檚 ventilation system is providing them enough protection during the pandemic; nearly half were unsure.
Current gives the Department of Public Health the option to make funding available if it 鈥渋s [a] certified school indoor air quality emergency鈥� with building conditions that 鈥減resent a substantial and imminent adverse health risk that requires remediation.鈥�
But for now, the state isn鈥檛 considering COVID an air quality emergency in schools and isn鈥檛 getting involved.
That position has frustrated local officials, who鈥檝e been pressing the governor鈥檚 office for months to fund air quality construction projects. That means the governor would likely have to relax the cap he has put on school construction spending as part of his strategy to rein in state borrowing. The federal aid sent to their schools and towns, several school and local officials say, falls far short of being able to get ventilation systems where they should be.
During the Council of Small Towns annual meeting earlier this year, the Democratic governor told his audience of town leaders, 鈥淢essage heard. You know, I鈥檝e been a little bit of a cheapskate when it comes to spending and when it comes to borrowing, but I also understand: a) we're in a pandemic, b) we may get some federal support on this front. That would be a very helpful,"
He also said his Office of Policy and Management knows how ventilation in schools is faring.
鈥淲hat Kosta has done over at OPM is we鈥檝e gone to most of the schools, at least we know exactly what the status is on ventilation there,鈥� Lamont said.
