Sending Our Children Back to School Post-Covid
“We must protect our students; we have to protect our educators.”
The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic has shown just how adaptable and resilient we all can be, especially on short notice. Almost overnight your home became an office, a school, and the sanctuary from which you wouldn’t emerge for days at a time. The family kitchen table is now host to breakfast, algebra, a business meeting and a science project… all before lunch, when the cycle starts all over again. The lines dividing home, work and school life have all but dissolved.
Parents have experienced the pleasure (and pain) of having the entire family home around the clock, while waiting for word on the fate of the 2019-2020 school year. Then the announcement came… schools would remain closed for the balance of the school year. Deflated, parents and students alike accepted their fate and began to look ahead to the re-opening of schools again in the fall.
As difficult and sad as this is for students, teachers and parents, the coming months of empty school buildings provide a valuable opportunity to plan how to handle things when the halls of your school are once again filled with laughter and the squeak of new sneakers.
Social distancing will be of paramount concern to parents and teachers alike, but inside a school this presents a substantial challenge. School buildings, educational programs and extracurricular activities have always been geared toward promoting socialization, so how do we handle this conflict? Not only will classroom layouts be at issue, but the simple acts of in/egress, and circulation will need to be substantially changed to remain both safe and manageable.
It is probably safe to assume that non-essential activities (PE, music, recess, clubs, etc.) will, at least at the outset, not be allowed due to the inherent risk of transmittal. Once distancing rules are established, dramatic changes to seating arrangements, hallway flow and scheduling will be necessary to comply while trying to maintain an effective learning environment.
Cleanliness will be critical to the prevention of infection, so new and more stringent sanitation procedures will need to be defined and enforced. Furthermore, greater demands will fall on the custodial staff to sanitize all at-risk surfaces between school days. This will be even more difficult if staggered schedules result in longer than normal hours of building occupation.
With so many factors in play, what can schools do right now to prepare for welcoming students back in the fall?
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Circulation Routes & Transportation – One possible approach would be to stagger arrival/departure times to reduce volume at choke points like entryways. Another option would be to have students alternate weeks of in-person, versus remote instruction. This would also cut bus passenger density in half. Inside the school building, one-way circulation routes reduce the number of students facing each other. By limiting the number of people in common spaces at any given time, transmission will be reduced.
Classroom Layouts – Within the classroom, teachers and administrators are bound by the laws of physics, as a result there are limited solutions to achieving separation. Installing dividers/pods may be an option, but if not, just simply reducing the number of students in classrooms at any given time may be the only practical option. These two illustrations show how layout and travel path changes for typical high school (grid of desks) and elementary (pods & tables) will need to be re-configured to conform to recommended spacing.
Air circulation & HVAC systems – High volume circulation of clean fresh air will be critical to spread reduction efforts. Our mechanical systems partners at M/E Engineering are recommending eliminating the recirculation of air, as well as maintaining the highest level of filtration your system can handle (ideally MERV-13 or better). Additionally, longer air circulation cycles (even when not heating or cooling) will further improve air quality. Classrooms may also consider adding portable room air cleaners equipped with HEPA filters and/or UV sanitizers. Read M/E’s full recommendations here.
Technology – Technology has played a key role to instruction continuing through quarantine. As schools reopen, technology will continue to play a role in K-12 education, as it provides a no-contact instructional channel. However, where devices like tablets and laptops are shared, new cleaning and sanitizing processes will need to be established and enforced. New UV based products designed for technology devices are readily available and could be useful for shared technology mechanisms like laptop or tablet “carts.”
Looking beyond the re-opening this fall, how will K-12 school design be affected in a post-COVID world? Here are some design trends that we expect to see in future (or added to current) K-12 projects:
More outside air & natural light – Fresh air is desirable, so expect to see more functional windows and exterior access doors integrated into designs. HVAC approaches will provide greater flexibility for fresh air inclusion and economizer settings, including intelligent air quality sensors and system management. Natural light provides a sense of cleanliness and has been shown to kill pathogens, so look for larger windows and skylights where at all possible.
Independent spaces with continued visual connectivity – If social distancing continues to be a consideration for schools, flexible solutions for subdividing classroom, and other spaces (using transparent materials) could provide a visual connection between students and faculty, while maintaining required physical segmentation.
Reduction of contact with high risk surfaces – Food service areas, restrooms and locker rooms will continue to be a concern as they are high traffic/high touch areas with virus friendly surfaces. Touchless technology incorporated into alternative designs and layouts should focus on reducing problem surfaces, and necessary contact therewith. For example, designing restrooms to eliminate the need for a door while also still providing privacy, solves several problems while improving airflow.
Increased handwashing opportunities beyond restrooms – Future classroom and common area designs should include more sinks and space for sanitizing supplies. Not only does this allow for more hand washing and surface cleaning, it also reduces the need for students to travel into hallways to simply wash hands.
The only thing we know for certain is the short, medium and long term picture for K-12 operation and design will never be the same. The experienced team at Edge is keeping abreast of all the latest requirements and trends so you don’t have to. Your students and their families rely on faculty, administrators, staff and school boards to make effective and efficient decisions. Count on Edge to help you stay current and safe while adhering to budgets.