Education Week - June 17, 2020 - 2

Faulty Air-Quality Systems
Could Stymie Reopening
Schools in COVID-19 Era

Demonstrators pray
during a march in
Atlanta days after
George Floyd's death on
May 25. Students
throughout the country
are protesting police
brutality against people

Mike Stewart/AP

Every single day when school is in session, maintenance workers have to go to the roof of a school in
Florida to fix its faulty HVAC system. What did the
school do with some extra money? It bought security cameras.
That's one of the 36,000 schools nationwide
the Government Accountability Office estimates
need HVAC updates, and it illustrates how other
infrastructure demands are often elevated above
schools' heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
troubles.
The federal watchdog, in fact, estimates that 41
percent of districts need to update or replace HVAC
systems in at least half their schools-even before
COVID-19 is taken into account. When the report
talks about "hazardous conditions," those don't
touch on the virus.
In guidance unveiled last month to help schools
reopen, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention recommended that schools "ensure that
ventilation systems operate properly" and increase
ventilation by opening windows and doors, unless
that creates concerns for students with asthma.
It's still unclear to what extent school-age children can and do transmit the coronavirus. Older
school staff and those with chronic health conditions, however, are at higher risk of complications.
A recent article posted by the CDC shows just how
risky poor ventilation can be. The article describes
how a coronavirus outbreak in China was linked to
a restaurant and notes that "droplet transmission
was prompted by air-conditioned ventilation."
Rick Hermans, who's in charge of school issues on
the COVID-19 task force at the American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, says that the air conditioning system functioned poorly and just moved the virus around the
restaurant, rather than properly diluting and moving the air out of the room.
Updating or replacing schools' HVAC systems,
of course, is going to be costly. And just where that
money will come from during this economic slowdown is anybody's guess.

of color and demanding
schools change their
curricula and teaching
practices.

What Students Are Saying About the Death
Of George Floyd, Protests, and Their Futures
What do high school students think about all that's swirling
around the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer?
Education Week spoke with five graduating and rising seniors
to get their take on how current events are shaping their views on
education and their futures. Here are snippets from those conversations. You'll have to go to edweek.org's Rules for Engagement
blog to read more.
Obrian Rosario, New York City: "Schools in New York City,
specifically schools that are predominantly black and Latinx,
tend to have more punitive practices imposed upon them," such
as more metal detectors and school resource officers and fewer
guidance counselors. "What happens with that is we end up creating a school-to-prison pipeline."
Marion Johnson, District of Columbia: He is attending North
Carolina A&T State University in the fall and sees personal success as a means to chip away at a racist society. That, and voting.
As proof, he points to the thin margin of victory with which Presi-

dent Donald Trump won the electoral college in 2016.
Sikirat Mustapha, New York City: "Teachers, principals, administrators, people hold implicit biases; they tend to assert that
on you. Implicit biases are unconscious, and microaggressions
do happen."
Courtney Elliot, District of Columbia: She was disgusted
when she saw the video of Floyd's death. But that hasn't deterred
Elliot from her goal to become a cop. It's taken a while for her
family to come around to it, though. "There are a lot of black police officers who are using brutal force, and they didn't want me
to [become] one of those people."
Stephen Abrams, San Diego: A gun-reform activist, Abrams
is awed by the level of interest among his classmates. "It's all we
can really talk about right now. Plus, "I think also the pressure
that people have put on people to not be silent- that your silence
is showing your privilege and that you don't care about systemic
oppression. People don't want to be viewed that way. People want
to be on the right side of history."

To Combat Racism, Students Demand Schools Reconceive
What They Teach, How It's Taught, and Teacher Training
Students across the country aren't just taking to the streets to protest
in the wake of George Floyd's death. They're making demands of their
schools through petition drives as well.
A petition posted recently on Facebook, aimed at schools in Frederick County, Md., is a prime example. It was inspired by demand letters
drafted by the alumni of Xavier College Preparatory School in Arizona
and the Morris County School of Technology in New Jersey.
The Maryland letter calls on the district to "re-examine how we honor
Black lives in our education system in elementary, middle, and high
school curricula-not simply as a reactionary means but in direct ways
that critically challenge how we frame our nation's history."
It demands that the district conduct a "third-party, holistic review" of its
curriculum, hiring, and student-body administration, among other things,
and that it hold implicit-bias training for district faculty and staff. They also
want to hear speakers talk about racial justice and white privilege and to
take field trips to places that can teach students about the Black experience.
Students in the Monmouth County Vocational district in New Jersey are
circulating a five-page letter, which "respectfully insists" that the board
2 | EDUCATION WEEK | June 17, 2020 | www.edweek.org

adopt a "comprehensive four-year curriculum that addresses systemic
racism and police brutality." It lists seven action steps, including revising
the English and history curricula to cover the perspectives and stories of
people of color and training faculty to be leaders in anti-racism.
In Newtown, Conn., two 2017 graduates are circulating a petition that
takes the district to task for failing to provide an adequate multicultural
education.
"We have taken the time to reflect on our experience and education
in Newtown schools," it says. "Although we learned about slavery, the
civil rights movement, and we read To Kill a Mockingbird, the formal
teachings of modern-day systemic and institutionalized racism, police
brutality, or white privilege were next to none."
The Newtown students asked their school board to make sure curriculum includes discussion of current events related to race when they happen and fosters "safe open dialogue" about them. They want the district
to include books on current, institutionalized racism and white privilege,
add a course specifically designed to teach students about systemic racism, and "end the notion of teaching students to be colorblind."

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Spencer Foundation, the Wallace
Foundation, the Walton Family
Foundation, the William E Simon
Foundation, and the William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation. Education Week
retains sole editorial control over the
content underwritten by foundations.

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Education Week - June 17, 2020

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