March 1st Calls to Action
We have some new articles we're working on about our mask drive and a clean air in schools presentation, but first, some time sensitive items!
First, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has a public consultation that's been open since November - but we’ve only heard about it this week.
It closes today, March 1.
The title of the consultation is: "A vision for public health assessment for Canada's future."
There are plenty of large text boxes where you can share your thoughts with PHAC.
Please give your feedback and do share it with others who would appreciate this opportunity to give feedback and ideas to PHAC.
Second, the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (EECD) seems to have hired a New Brunswick communications firm, Lynwood, to solicit feedback from Parent-School-Support Committees (PSSCs) in Anglophone school districts.
One of the questions is about "chronic absenteeism."
There seems to be no consideration given to the fact that we are living with a new airborne disease that is not seasonal which can cause immune dysregulation as well as Long Covid.
Because EECD is acknowledging that school absences are a problem, this is an excellent opportunity for the public to demand clean air in schools. Part of the solution is safer schools for students and staff, achieved by implementing ASHRAE 241 (Control of Infectious Aerosols) or other related measures that recognize the fact that Covid-19
is still very much with us;
spreads easily in schools;
predominantly transmits via inhalation of virus-laden aerosols; and
causes deleterious long-term effects in a significant proportion of the population - including in kids.
In adddition to ASHRAE 241, There is also the ASHRAE document “Design Guidance for Educational Facilities: Prioritization for Advanced Indoor Air Quality” which is very helpful but does not take into consideration infectious aerosols like standard 241 does.
If EECD is truly interested in reducing absences in schools, they should be paying attention to the fact that the use of HEPA air cleaners in classrooms has been shown to reduce absences by 20%. There is a lot we can do to make our schools safer and to reduce rates of illness in children and workers.
Here is a map of New Brunswick schools whose air quality was measured by GNB (schools that do not have mechanical ventilation).
Note these are almost all ASD schools; there are only two francophone schools on the list. According to the information below, francophone schools with ventilation run their ventilation for longer hours than anglophone schools.
School administration members who serve on each PSSC have been instructed to review these slides with the PSSC and have the members provide input on some questions.
A full PDF of the slides can be downloaded here.
And here's a screenshot from the Lynwood website - my friend noticed this great messaging. We wonder why a communications firm is involved in this, but maybe this is normal.
These seem like pretty important questions, and we feel like more people whose kids are in these schools should have the opportunity to see this material and provide feedback to their PSSCs. From what we understand, the input is due back in March. So please have a look and contact your school's PSSC if you have any input to provide.
Please reach out to your school admin with your feedback ASAP. You can tell them your feedback is related to the PSSC consultation questions, and they'll know what you mean. Even if you are not on your school's PSSC, you should have the opportunity to engage with this process. Please feel welcome to share the above PDF with other people you know in New Brunswick whose kids attend schools in the anglophone districts.
Additional Resources:
Teacher’s brief to the NBTA about school air quality and health: https://protectnb.ca/NBTABrief.pdf
Teacher’s presentation as part of NetworkED about air quality in schools (this is an exceptional resource that should be shared with all school workers and families of kids in school - note the differences found in how long the Francophone districts operate their mechanical ventilation systems, and how the Francophone districts report fewer absences): https://protectnb.ca/schoolairquality.pdf
Thank you for your time and we hope you will be able to take a few minutes to respond to the PHAC survey, and to contact your school's PSSC (which can be done via your school administration if you don't know any PSSC members) if you are connected with a child in New Brunswick’s anglophone school system.
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Thanks for the notice. I managed to get the PHAC survey filled in by today's deadline. (Don't have a child in school in New Brunswick, but hopefully that gets some action as well!)