As you consider the return of students to your district, our team has been assessing how to best create healthy and safe learning environments that support social distancing. These universal strategies, supported by research from the Center for Disease Control, American Institute of Architects,
and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers, are focused on the wellbeing of your student populations and fit all building types. Our experience can help to evaluate which of your facilities can achieve these strategies and which can be retrofitted to accommodate the current situation.

BUILDING STRATEGIES

Reduce Class Sizes
The average Michigan classroom is 900 ft2 and can hold as many as 30 or more students. Adding in casework and furniture, students spend much of their time in the classroom within six feet of each other. Reducing class sizes to 20 students can help to spread out the building population and encourage social distancing. If the need arises to incorporate additional classroom spaces to accommodate smaller class sizes, it is essential to review all district assets, including buildings that may have been “mothballed” due to age or were closed due to enrollment decline.

Repurpose Multi-Purposes Spaces
Larger spaces within each building should be evaluated as learning environments. Auditoriums, gymnasiums, cafeterias, and conference spaces for larger group classes can help reduce population density. These spaces could be used for core class lectures, followed-up with discussions in small-group settings. This system may be most useful if student schedules are staggered.

Indoor Air Quality
HVAC systems should be evaluated for potential improvements to indoor air quality. Air quality considerations include enhanced filtration, humidification, bipolar ionization, and UVGI treatment.
Fresh air and sunlight have been proven to dilute interior air contaminate and reduce the proliferation of viruses. Finding secure ways to open windows and blinds can be a simple but effective sanitation solution.

Plumbing System Flushes
All potable water systems should be flushed entirely before reoccupying a building. Plumbing systems that have been dormant for a month or more can propagate bacteria (legionella). Proper system flushing may require chemical disinfection; however, chlorine levels of chemical disinfection should not be allowed to rise above ten ppm.

Hygienic Finish Upgrades
Flooring and furniture surfaces should be replaced with durable and chemical resistant materials that can be frequently sanitized. Carpeted classrooms that can harbor biological contaminants and pollutants should be considered for an upgrade to hard surface flooring.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

Building + Classroom Entry
When hundreds of students are entering the building at one time, it is impossible to take each temperature in a short amount of time. Utilizing infrared thermometers, teachers could quickly scan students as they enter the building or classroom, sending them to a specifi c containment area if they present any type of fever.

Sanitation and Sick Plans
Every gathering area in each building should be retrofi tted to include some form of sanitizer station. There need to be locations for handwashing, independent of toilet rooms, for greater sanitation in each facility. Buildings should increase cleaning routines to include a regime that chemically disinfects high touch surfaces daily.
Teachers and students should be encouraged to stay home if they are sick. Student absences should be reported to the health authorities as they could be an indication of the potential spread of illness in the student population. Should a student or teacher become ill at school, each district should have a method for containment and transportation to the
nearest hospital.

Staggered Student Schedules
One way to reduce contact between students is to stagger student attendance schedules and continue virtual learning. By blending virtual and in-person educational delivery methods, students will receive socialization in their smaller class sizes or large multi-purpose space lectures, and then continue to have discussions and virtually ask questions.

Classrooms on Carts
During passing time and lunch hours, student circulation is at a high for the day. By transitioning to classrooms on carts, teachers would move between the classes, eliminating the need for student circulation at such high degrees. “Classrooms on carts” is a system that works for many fi ne arts teachers in larger school districts. By having students in one classroom, lunches could be delivered to students, eliminating the close contact of students with each other and with food. Additionally, by having their materials on a cart, teachers have more access to outdoor learning options.

CONCLUSION

It is crucial to consider the impact that each of these strategies plays on student mental health. By having less time to socialize with their larger groups of friends and explore the school buildings, students may feel a mental strain. Support should be considered for students who show these signs.
These methods may not be right for each district, and as we learn more from the Center for Disease Control, they are likely to change. The TowerPinkster team is dedicated to working with you and your district as a partner in stopping the spread of disease.
Please contact us if you would like to talk further at [email protected].