Schools
Two-Thirds Of Crown Heights Schools See Ventilation Issues: Study
As NYC prepares to reopen schools during the pandemic, reports show at least 24 of Crown Heights' 37 schools have ventilation issues.
CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Nearly two-thirds of Crown Heights' 37 public schools have some sort of ventilation problems, a potential roadblock in sending kids back for classes amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new report shows.
Education news site Chalkbeat has compiled inspection records for 1,700 of the city's schools as ventilation inspectors set out to determine whether their facilities are safe enough to allow students to return to class next month.
The report finds that more than 1,000 of the city's schools have documented ventilation problems.
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In Crown Heights, at least 24 of the neighborhood's 37 public schools had either problems with the air supply system — which brings fresh air inside the building — or the exhaust system, which brings stale air outside.
That number could also be even higher given that seven of the 14 schools did not have one of the inspection reports.
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The reports are based on inspections between fall 2018 and summer 2019. Another round of inspections was conducted this summer but has not been released publicly.
Good ventilation lowers the risk of transmitting the coronavirus through the air, and Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that inspectors had already been deployed, checking every classroom in every school to ensure that windows can open and the supply and exhaust fans are working properly before students return Sept. 10.
But the new report shows the immense scale of the problem, and backs up claims by some teachers and principals that their school buildings were poorly ventilated and ill-equipped to welcome back students during the pandemic.
Here are the results for Crown Heights:
Achievement First Crown Heights Charter School - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
- Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
- Report
PS 161 The Crown - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
- Supply fan deficiencies: 1
- Report
Success Academy Crown Heights (Brooklyn 7) - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
- Supply fan deficiencies: 1
- Report
Academy for Health Careers - Brooklyn
Explore Empower Charter School - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
- Supply fan deficiencies: 0
- Report
Explore Empower Charter School - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
- Supply fan deficiencies: 0
- Report
KIPP AMP Charter School - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 2
- Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
- Report
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
- Supply fan deficiencies: 0
- Report
Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
- Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
- Report
Research and Service High School - Brooklyn
- Exhaust fan deficiencies: 2
- Supply fan deficiencies: 0
- Report
Read more and view Chalkbeat's searchable database here.
Patch reporters Gus Saltonstall and Nick Garber contributed to this report.
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