Release air data, N.S. urged

Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education is calling on the province to finally release its data on air quality monitoring in public schools.

Group representative Lisa Bond said students, school staff and parents continue to be concerned about preventative COVID measures and whether schools are meeting ventilation and air quality standards. She said with winter forcing more students and staff indoors the province needs to show results of its province-wide inspection of ventilation systems in schools.

“What are they hiding?" said Bond on Sunday. "If our schools meet safe air quality standards then you can be sure that the province would share that with Nova Scotians. The fact that the government isn't doing this shows there's a problem.”

The province said every public school's ventilation systems was tested in the province over the summer but those results have not been shared publicly. No information has been released on what schools rely on natural ventilation, as opposed to mechanical ventilation.

Last month Education Minister Zach Churchill announced $2.7 million in funding to ensure those systems would be inspected throughout the year. But no details have been made public on what specific schools are getting that funding and what work is being done.

Allnovascotia submitted an access to information request with the Nova Scotia government looking for records of recent air quality results for Nova Scotia schools.

The response came back on Dec. 17 with no record of any testing having been conducted.

Churchill maintained that more assessments of ventilation systems are happening with approval of Nova Scotia Public Health.

"We can say with a high degree of confidence that our ventilation systems are working as they should," said Churchill.

He also pointed to the relatively low number of COVID cases in schools. So far there have been 16 positive cases in 11 schools identified by the province.

Comparitively, this month Quebec released a study of air quality and ventilation in schools in that province. The study, measuring carbon dioxide in more than 1,300 classrooms in the province, was made public. The document also revealed the specific upgraded and fixes that were made to ventilation systems in schools. It also showed how many schools rely on natural ventilation, as opposed to mechanical ventilation.

Similarly, this month hundreds of scientists, doctors and other health experts from across Canada came out calling for more aggressive measures to stop airborne spread of COVID-19 in indoor spaces like schools.

RELYING ON WINDOWS

Bond, who lives in Florence Cape Breton, has two boys attending Memorial High School in Sydney Mines. She said that school and others in industrial Cape Breton are not equipped with modern ventilation systems. As a result they're relying on opening windows to help circulate air but many students are wearing jackets all day to stay warm.

“Nobody can learn like that,” she said.

One of her boys is in the school's skilled trades program and the other is autistic and requires extra support. She said homeschooling isn't an option because schools won't provide the extra resources for her sons' to continue their education at home.

Regional school boards used to have some responsibility for maintaining air quality in schools but the province dismantled the elected bodies in May 2018. In 1998 the province appointed an environmental health and safety officer to work with school boards specifically on preventative measures to maintain good air quality, investigating air quality concerns, and communicating with parents, teachers and others in the school.

“Getting rid of school boards was one of the worst mistakes that we ever made,” said Bond. “We have no voice now."

Paul Wozney, President of Nova Scotia Teachers' Union, said substandard air quality in schools has been an issue for years. COVID has served to magnify the problem, he said.

"The fact of the matter is that over half of Nova Scotia Schools either have no ventilation system or have ventilation systems that are so old that they are not required to meet national standards," said Wozney.

He said testing of air exchange systems is actually being done on a very limited number of modern buildings that can be expected to meet national standards. Even so, principals and teachers are not privy to those results, he said.

“They're being told that equipment is in working order and the system is set to max circulation," said Wozney.

"The province is not providing information whatsoever on whether the air is clean or whether there is mold or other contagion in the school."

Last month, Education Minister Zach Churchill announced $2.7 million in funding to ensure the province's schools' ventilation systems would be inspected throughout the year. But no details have been made public on what specific schools are getting that funding and what work is being done.