Air-quality concerns shut down part of Dauphin high school

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This article was published 20/01/2022 (1523 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A section of Dauphin’s high school has been made off-limits to staff and students, owing to concerns about air quality amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Jan. 12, days before 640 students were slated to return to Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School following an extended winter break and e-learning period, the 50-year-old facility’s air handling unit for the northeast corner of its classroom wing broke down.

Teachers have since been scrambling to reorganize classes in other areas deemed safe in the secondary school at 330 Mountain Rd. A couple of educators had to be moved twice because the library area was found to have “less than optimal air flow,” according to senior administration in Mountain View School Division.

Roughly one-third of the student population has been relocated inside the facility.

The mechanical issue has resulted in Kaylee Hogue’s phys-ed class being moved from the healthy living centre to a gymnasium now split into two classrooms with a curtain divider.

“I’m using the school-provided masks and I’m trying to stay away from as many students as possible,” the Grade 12 student said Wednesday.

Kaylee added more of her peers have started wearing higher-quality masks upon their return from vacation.

New public health protocols have prompted administrators to space out desks further apart and stagger dismissals so there are no hallway jams, said the student council president. Kaylee noted she wanted to come back to school because she is fully immunized and learns best in person.

The unfortunate timing of the ventilation issue is not lost on the western Manitoba community, given the pandemic — and in particular, the highly transmissible Omicron variant, spread primarily via aerosols — is already causing immense stress for everyone involved in the K-12 education system.

The latest breakdown is the second of its kind in recent months; in 2021, an air handling unit in the school’s cafeteria stopped functioning properly.

“These teachers are being put in a tough spot,” said a source familiar with the situation. “Air quality in schools is obviously a concern and the maintenance of schools going into the future is a concern.”

Principal Norm Casavant said teachers affected by the recent air quality issue moved into empty computer labs and other spaces that were being used for storage before most students returned Jan. 17.

Casavant said the school was designed for about 1,200 learners, nearly double its current capacity, so they are lucky they can access other areas of the building that have functioning air handling units.

There is no exact timeline for the latest repairs, but the division anticipates they will be completed within eight weeks. The northeast wing and cafeteria units, along with all of the other such devices in the building, are scheduled to be replaced by the summer of 2023.

Engineering consultants inspected the DRCSS ventilation system in December, and determined the units “are aging and should be replaced, but that overall, they continue to function as designed,” superintendent Dan Ward wrote via email.

Ward said the division has undertaken CO2 monitoring and ordered a number of HEPA filters for the school. Officials met with the provincial department of central services to discuss the matter this week.

“Obviously, the pandemic has placed demands on our staff that have been taxing, and these recent classroom moves have added to the stress,” Ward added. “Our staff and students have been tremendous throughout these challenges.”

In a prepared statement Wednesday, the president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society called effective and reliable ventilation systems “an essential component of school safety.”

James Bedford said: “We’re pleased that funds continue to be made available to school divisions for necessary upgrades. Teachers look forward to transparent, timely reporting on all safety improvements as they occur.”

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie