NORTH MANCHESTER – The North Manchester Community School Corporation received an audit of its indoor air quality during its meeting Tuesday. The audit was part of the 2011 Indoor Air Quality mandate, enforced by the State Department of Health. IAQ aimes to eliminate air quality deficiencies and irritants. The audit was conducted by Syracuse-based Ergo Resource Management Inc, which recommended the school corporation set up policies for such things as chemicals, plants, HVACs, animals and idling vehicles. In addition to taking air samples, Ergo offered a list of worst offenders that contribute to poor air quality and airborne chemical irritants. Some are as simple as changing air filters in HVAC systems, eliminating air fresheners, dusting house plants and spraying cleaning products directly onto towels versus surfaces. Other solutions, which would need to be enforced by the administration, call for prohibiting vehicles from idling in front of schools, which is currently being implemented, as HVAC systems pull in exhaust. Upholstered objects such as stuffed animals and furniture quickly collect dust mites and become soiled in such an environment and have to be considered on a case-by-case basis. And students themselves are sometimes the cause of poor air quality. “Poor student hygiene often becomes a home issue,” said Tom Green of Ergo. One teacher in the audience said it’s difficult to address such issues with students, especially at the elementary school age. Many students arrive at class with cigarette residue, which becomes a chemical and odor irritant. Green acknowledged that even if the school corporation addresses all staff and maintenance recommendations, the schools will still hold some students with poor hygiene and soiled backpacks. According to Green, the school corporation will have to increase efforts to engage with the community and parents, alerting them to IAQ. Ergo’s audit comes at a time when states are reexamining air quality standards, after lethal levels of carbon monoxide were recently detected at an elementary school in Atlanta, Ga., sending nearly 50 students to the hospital. The topic was not specifically mentioned, except that North Manchester schools need to consider controlling carbon levels through properly maintained HVAC systems. Only Maryland and Connecticut require school buildings to have carbon monoxide detectors. Nationally, school corporations face funding challenges and increasing infrastructure expenses. President Obama proposed a $25 billion investment for school infrastructure and upgrades, with priority given to rural schools, as part of the American Jobs Act, which is largely in Congressional limbo.
