A group of families with children enrolled in the Thames Valley District School Board is aiming to go beyond the Ontario government standard for the number of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter units placed in schools.
Before the start of the 2021-22 school year, Ontario school boards were required to have stand-alone HEPA filter units in all occupied kindergarten classrooms and all occupied learning spaces without mechanical ventilation, in an effort to improve school safety. amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an email to Global News, a TVDSB spokesperson says the board has achieved this with the deployment of 1,413 units provided by the province.
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These units have been deployed in kindergarten classrooms in all 130 schools overall, classrooms for students with complex and pervasive medical needs, and common areas in schools without mechanical ventilation.
The board is awaiting delivery of a further 89 units, to be installed in all self-contained classrooms for those with special educational needs. Additional shipments of HEPA filter units will be prioritized for classrooms that have students with an approved mask exemption, according to TVDSB.
Across the province, 70,000 units have been deployed in schools and an additional 3,000 units have been provided to boards as part of the Ontario government’s latest return to in-person learning.
Ontario continues to be a national leader in supplying HEPA filter units to schools; however, both the Ontario Federation of Elementary Teachers and the Ontario Federation of Secondary School Teachers have called on the province to provide more.
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Hoping to add to TVDSB’s list of HEPA filter units, there is an online fundraiser organized by parents and guardians in the school board community.
While the fundraiser donation page Organized by the Thames Valley Education Foundation, the initiative is entirely community-driven.
With each unit priced at $750, with operating costs valued at around $200 every two years, the fundraiser aims to raise $10,000 in hopes of covering the cost of additional units. Over $4,000 has been raised as of Friday afternoon.
TVDSB trustee Corrine Rahman, as well as one of the parents who helped organize the fundraiser, says the initiative aims to allocate those extra units equitably.
“This provides an opportunity for funds to go through the Thames Valley Education Foundation to the board, and the board decides, based on the vulnerabilities of students and educators, where those HEPA filter units should go first,” Rahman said. .
“Throughout this pandemic, we have heard that we are in this together and we have to think of everyone…. Support those values and that joint effort we’ve been making to help everyone get through this.”
Rahman is also working to push for the presence of other preventative measures in Thames Valley schools.
She and Board President Lori-Ann Pizzolato are submitting a motion to their fellow trustees that TVDSB write a letter to the Ontario government requesting just that.
“Building on the work of other progressive trustees across the province, this is an opportunity to look at some of the gaps we’re seeing in the system and try to find some tools so we can continue to provide in-person learning as long as possible. Rahman told Global News.
Along with continued funding for ventilation upgrades, the proposed letter would call for continued monitoring and public reporting of COVID-19 cases in schools, increased access to PCR testing, a “test to come back” strategy and continued funding to provide loose fitting N95 masks. for school staff.
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Other requests in the letter include funding for technology to support continued remote learning and transitions to remote learning, increased transparency in provincial decisions made regarding education, and funding for a full-time mental health leader at TVDSB.
“Trustee Pizzolato and I felt there were opportunities to do more. I know everyone is doing the best they can with the information and resources available to them,” Rahman said.
The next board of trustees meeting is scheduled for Jan. 25, which is the first time Rahman and Pizzolato’s motion will have a chance to be considered.
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