Kyrene de la Sierra: District continues to deal with Ahwatukee school's temporary campus closure
Kyrene de la Sierra: Video shows roof inspection
It has been days since Kyrene School District announced the temporary campus closure of Kyrene de la Sierra Elementary School, and on Thursday, we could learn what exactly was in the air, inside the school. Meanwhile, FOX 10's Steve Nielsen has more on video that shows the roof inspection, and the moments school leaders found out there was an issue.
PHOENIX - A school district in the East Valley is still dealing with issues related to the temporary closure of one of their elementary schools in the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix.
The backstory:
On Aug. 3, Kyrene officials announced that they are closing the campus of Kyrene de la Sierra, starting on Aug. 4, due to air quality concerns.
"Multiple air quality tests conducted over the weekend inside the school indicated elevated particulate levels. This does not mean the particulates are harmful or even that the levels are harmful. However, official results of the air quality tests will take 5-7 days, and we will not take any risks with staff and student health," read a portion of the notice.
On Aug. 5, however, Kyrene officials issued a clarification on the air quality testing.
"Kyrene has been using the term particles or particulates when referencing air quality testing, but moving forward, we will use the acronym tVOC, which is the appropriate term and stands for Total Volatile Organic Compounds. The distinction is that particles may refer to liquids or solids, while VOCs specifically refer to gasses emitted from certain solids or liquids," officials wrote.
School officials say regardless of results from the air quality tests, students will not return to campus until after fall break. The school's fall break is set to start on Monday, September 29, and end on Friday, October 10.
"Sometimes when you have poor air quality in schools, it can increase absenteeism for students and staff if they're always sick, especially vulnerable people, like people with asthma," said Joanna Strother with the American Lung Association.
By the numbers:
According to an air quality report posted on Kyrene's website on Aug. 5, indoor ambient air tVOC readings were 813 to 11,153 parts per billion (ppb) on Aug. 1.
"According to the U.S. Green Building Council, tVOC levels should ideally be below 500 parts per billion (ppb)," read a portion of the findings. "Studies have indicated that health complaints in buildings typically begin when the VOC levels inside of the building exceed 3,000 ppb."
On Aug. 3, the tVOC reading ranged from 1,891 to 14,939 ppb, according to the report. By Aug. 5, the reading fell to 294 to 6,773 ppb.
Big picture view:
Per district officials, non-preschool students at Kyrene de la Sierra will be relocated to the shared campus of Kyrene de los Cerritos Leadership Academy and Kyrene Altadeña Middle School, starting on Aug. 11.
Preschool students, meanwhile, will be relocated to Cerritos. Initially, officials said they would be relocated to Kyrene de la Esperanza Elementary School, which is in a different part of Ahwatukee.
The relocation will last until the end of fall break, which is Friday, Oct. 10.
What they're saying:
Director of Facilities Mason Meade said while odors are not uncommon during such projects, a written concern sent on July 31 led to a test of the work site.
"During this testing, we also discovered that a key safety protocol was not in place," Meade said. "We require that air intakes be sealed off prior to projects starting. As previously mentioned, it is not clear why they were not in place. We are looking into that."
Superintendent Laura Toenjes said it is not standard practice to do air quality testing for every project. She also addressed an apparent "lag" between complaints made at a "Meet the Teacher" night on July 21 and the initial testing on Aug. 1.
"It's not uncommon for us to get a report of 'Hey there's some smells,' and so we followed our standard practice," Toenjes said. "I don't know, you said some people on July 21, we had I think one, and it didn't even escalate to administration at that point."
Parents are sharing their concerns over long-term effects and say the district's timeline doesn't match their experience.
"My asthmatic son goes to Kids Club. One day I walked in the doors, there were only about 10 children left, and my eyes teared up from the fumes," a parent said. "They were not aromas, they were clearly fumes that my asthmatic son had been breathing in for I don't know how long."
What you can do:
You can watch the full meeting here: