Inside these parents long, nerdy struggle over how to improve air quality in Calgary schools

Small groups of Calgary parents are enlisting their kids to conduct secretive experiments in classrooms.

These missions involve clandestine efforts to smuggle sensitive equipment into schools. Some have been successful; others were foiled when the kids were found out.

The goal of this guerrilla campaign? To measure air quality.

The contraband? Pocket-sized devices that record carbon-dioxide levels in the air. (CO2 being an indicator of air circulation in a classroom.)

This all might sound a touch overdramatic. But, for some Calgary parents, its become a regular part of sending their kids to school over the past year a manifestation of their frustration over air quality and student safety.

More than a dozen parents involved in the effort spoke to CBC News about their concerns. The CO2 monitors are only one front in their campaign.

The larger objective is not just to measure air quality; its to improve it. The parents want portable air purifiers equipped with HEPA (high-efficiency particulate absorbing) filters placed in classrooms.

These parents worry about the continued risk of COVID-19 and other airborne diseases, which delivered an especially severe wallop to schools last fall. They believe Calgary school boards, both public and Catholic, are failing to take steps other school districts have taken to reduce that risk. They see this as a fight against an opaque educational bureaucracy that has become entrenched in a position they can neither understand nor accept.

The school boards say theyve taken numerous steps to improve air quality already and are following both professional recommendations and provincial guidelines. They also have a host of concerns about the devices and believe they would come with more cost than benefit.

The disagreement comes over some nitty-gritty details well get into in a moment.

But more fundamentally, it boils down to some basic questions. What level of air quality is acceptable? How much risk should we tolerate, especially when it comes to kids? How much are we willing to pay to reduce that risk? And who should be involved in making these decisions?

Last spring, Edmonton Public Schools spent $6 million to equip every classroom with a portable HEPA filter. Some private schools in Calgary also adopted them.

By contrast, Calgarys two largest school boards have remained steadfastly opposed, citing numerous concerns with both HEPA filters and homemade counterparts known as Corsi-Rosenthal boxes. In some cases, theyve stepped in to stop parents and teachers who have tried, independently, to bring their own portable filters into classrooms.

The school boards say this is about maintaining a consistent policy. Parents see it differently.

Theres this bias against having air filters in schools, which is ridiculous, said Amanda Hu, one of the lead organizers among the rebel-parent ranks.

Hu figures she spends 20 to 30 hours a week on the campaign. In addition to the surreptitious air-quality monitoring, the groups tactics include freedom of information requests, formal complaints to engineering regulators, and reaching out to politicians, journalists, other parents anyone who might listen.

But as COVID concerns recede, its become a lonely struggle. After years of school closures, mask mandates and pandemic-related stress, they recognize society has largely moved on. They now find themselves in the minority when it comes to a lot of this stuff.

Most parents, they know, dont have time to nerd out about air-quality data like they do.

OK, so youve probably realized by now this is a story about ventilation systems.

Wait, dont go!

We know, we know. Ducts, fans and filters arent exactly a scintillating subject.

But this stuff matters, especially for Canadians, who spend so much time indoors during the winter months. These systems deliver the majority of the air we breathe.

Theres been a lot of improvement in ventilation technology over the years. The issue is a lot of schools in Calgary were built decades ago, and their ventilation designs are outdated.

School administrators say theyve upgraded the filters in these systems wherever possible to a higher standard, known as MERV-13. These filters are much better at trapping tiny particles, such as viruses, in the air.

The upgrades are akin to changing the filter in your furnace at home. In fact, you can put MERV-13 filters in many home heating systems, and its something public-health officials recommend as one way to reduce the risk of airborne diseases.

Both the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) say theyve put ventilation upgrades at the core of their strategy to improve air quality in schools.

In addition to MERV-13 filters, they say they have taken additional protective steps, such as setting the systems to maximize fresh-air intake and running them in occupied mode before and after school each day to further flush out stale air and replace it with clean air.

In Edmonton, however, the public school board has gone a step further. It made similar upgrades to its ventilation systems, but it didnt stop there.

It also purchased nearly 6,000 portable HEPA filter units enough for every classroom and office as an additional layer of protection from viruses, allergens and other airborne particles that can make people sick.

We invested in these measures in an effort to provide the safest possible learning and working environments for our staff and students, said Veronica Jubinville, a spokesperson with Edmonton Public Schools.

Those portable HEPA filters were installed in Edmonton last spring. Ever since, the group of concerned parents here in Calgary have been wondering why the same cant happen in their kids classrooms.

I cant understand why anyone would block these measures, said Lacey Elliot, who has one child in kindergarten and another in Grade 2.

We all breathe air. We know how viruses are transmitted. We have the resources to keep our kids healthy and further help alleviate this public health issue. Why would we not do this?

Some parents have tried.

In 2021, parents at Collingwood School in northwest Calgary raised thousands of dollars, purchased 20 portable HEPA filters and had them installed in classrooms, only for the CBE to later order the devices removed.

Over in the CCSD, a teacher (whom CBC News has agreed not to publicly identify because it could affect her employment) tried to bring a HEPA filter into her classroom and ran into trouble.

It was a hard no, she said of the reaction from her bosses.

When she pressed the issue, she says she was told to back down or potentially face consequences.

I was to stay in my lane. I was to not get involved in the political process, she said of the rebuke she received from administrators.

The teacher says she was finally told the only way she might get a HEPA filter is if she got a note from her doctor saying it was medically necessary. She gave up at that point.

Even with a doctors note in hand, some parents have run into resistance.

Fuyo Watanabe spent months trying to convince the CBE to allow a HEPA filter in her sons classroom at a specialized school for children with complex medical needs.

She wanted the device not only to reduce the risk of COVID to her son but also to mitigate his allergies. She initially inquired about having a HEPA filter installed in September 2021. She was told she would need a prescription from the childs doctor.

When we were given a prescription to have it as a medical accommodation at school, then I thought for sure, not a problem, Watanabe said.

But there was a problem.

The HEPA filter for his allergies was denied, she said. It was turned down.

She filed an official complaint with the CBE, which escalated through multiple levels of school administration before finally landing with a superintendent, who agreed to make it happen. Even then, it took until May 2022 for the superintendent to get everything approved.

The HEPA filters finally arrived in June, nine months after her initial request an entire school year later.

The crux of the conflict between the parents and school authorities comes down to evidence, each side citing their own homework.

On the surface, it might seem simple: What does the evidence say? In practice, of course, it gets complicated and fraught because this debate is situated smack-dab in the middle of the larger debate over public-health measures and pandemic response.

The topic has become so politically and emotionally charged, so swamped in information and misinformation, that words like evidence can get peoples backs up or simply prompt them to tune out.

But lets try to put that aside, for a moment, and delve into the details of whats going on here.

The CBE says it has investigated the possibility of additional classroom air filtration, but it ultimately decided against it, as a general policy.

There are a number of potential concerns with the installation of HEPA filters in CBE classrooms, including the risk of overloading school electrical systems and the cost to procure, clean, maintain and repair these devices, said Christopher Usih, chief superintendent of the CBE, in a written statement.

The CCSD has maintained a similar policy, but says it continues to look into the issue.

We agree in principle that HEPA and/or [homemade] Corsi-Rosenthal devices may provide even cleaner air, but we need to measure to what degree and balance out at what cost, a spokesperson said in an email. Therefore, we are undertaking a third-party review of these practices, which may result in future changes.

The thing is: the CBE has already undertaken a third-party review.

Last year, it hired TMP Consulting Engineers, a Calgary-based mechanical engineering firm, to study its ventilation systems and, in March 2022, it received the experts report.

That report was among roughly 1,000 pages of internal documents the group of parents obtained from the CBE under a freedom of information request.

Overall, the report found many newer schools likely had adequate ventilation systems, but many older schools did not.

In particular, the report highlighted a style of construction used in about 45 schools built between 1950 and 1970. Instead of a central ventilation system that circulates air throughout the entire building, the classrooms in these schools each have their own, independent systems called unit ventilators.

The challenges with this system include not only lower rates of clean air change, but also the inability to upgrade the filtration, the report says.

As a result, the effective rate of air exchange in these types of classrooms would be well below the recommended values and there are few options but to provide a supplementary system such as a portable air purifier.

Asked for clarification on how these findings square with its position against portable HEPA filters, the CBE refused to answer.

We have no further information to add to the statement provided, it said, in an unsigned email.

This type of response is something the parents group has grown accustomed to, they say.

Many of the parents are used to working with large volumes of detailed information, with careers in academia, engineering, health care or data analysis.

They want to delve into the minutiae of the school authorities decision-making process, but theyve been frustrated by what they see as a lack of transparency.

Its deeply frustrating, said Mark Ungrin, a parent and professor at the University of Calgary.

I got very, very generic, fairly meaningless answers. And then when I pushed for more detail, I just didnt get any replies at all.

This is why theyve been relying on Albertas freedom of information legislation.

By law, public bodies, like school boards, must respond to these requests, although the process can take months. So far, the parents have received about 1,000 pages of documents from the CBE. (Parents in the CCSD say they are still waiting on responses to their own requests.)

The documents include internal emails illustrating the challenges school administrators faced during a tumultuous period of the pandemic: the arrival of the Omicron variant, shifting advice from public health officials, growing resentment from some parents over measures like mask mandates and growing concern from others about air quality.

Then there are the daunting logistics of upgrading ventilation systems across the wide range of CBE properties. The board administers 250 schools in total, the oldest of which was built in 1911. What works in a brand-new school may not work in one thats more than a century old.

Hu, with the parents group, was sympathetic to these difficulties as she combed through all the emails.

But something else in the documents caught her eye. She noticed the same phrasing used again and again in emails dating back to 2021 to explain the CBEs stance against portable HEPA filters.

The standard line was HEPA filters are generally recommended only when a building has no ventilation system, and since all CBE classrooms have ventilation systems, there is no need for the additional devices.

The CBE made the same argument in the statement it provided to CBC News for this story: Portable air cleaning devices are generally recommended when no mechanical ventilation exists, which means when windows are the only means of ventilation.

But it would not answer when asked the follow-up question: Generally recommended by whom?

To be fair, there have been a lot of different recommendations from a lot of different experts since the pandemic began. Official advice is not always straightforward, and it has changed over time, leaving school authorities in a difficult position.

One group both Calgary school authorities have repeatedly cited is the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Both the CBE and the CCSD say the upgrades theyve done to ventilation systems are in line with ASHRAE guidelines. But they also admit not all schools have been fully upgraded due to their age or their design.

For the parents group, this isnt good enough. Even when it comes to the schools able to receive full upgrades, they note, the ASHRAE guidelines dont preclude adding portable HEPA filters, as well.

They point to an open letter written in December 2021, in which ASHRAEs Alberta chapters offered some clarification on their guidance when it comes to schools, specifically.

The clarification pointed out that upgrading ventilation to a MERV-13 standard should be a minimum target.

It went on to say portable HEPA filters are supported by ASHRAE guidance as an additional level of protection when a ventilation systems ability to mitigate viral particles has not been verified.

William Bahnfleth, the chair of ASHRAEs epidemic task force, reviewed the Alberta chapters guidance and offered some further advice.

Even when minimum outdoor air requirements are met and recirculated air is filtered by MERV-13 filters, the total clean air delivery rate to most spaces does not reach recommended levels and should be supplemented by in-room air cleaners, he wrote in January 2022.

HEPA filter units are a good way to do this.

School administrators, for their part, point to recommendations from other sources of expertise or authority.

The CCSD says it meets or exceeds building code requirements. The CBE says it continues to follow the guidance and direction provided by Alberta Education and Alberta Health Services.

And here we get to it. What level of air quality is acceptable? What level of risk is acceptable? And whose nuanced recommendations should be the determining factors in any decision on whether enough has been done?

If Im honest, said Krista Li, a parent who has been fighting for HEPA filters in the Catholic school system, it becomes a pissing match of science.

Nevertheless, parents arent giving up. If evidence is their ammunition in this fight, theyre stockpiling as much as they can.

Which brings us back to those secret missions.

Kids are still showing up to class with CO2 monitors discreetly clipped to their backpacks, and parents are analyzing the data when they come back home.

Carbon-dioxide levels are widely used as a proxy for indoor air quality. Because humans exhale CO2, it provides a sense of how well ventilation systems are replacing stale air with fresh air.

The results have been mixed.

Some classrooms the parents have been monitoring appear to have consistently high-quality air, something they figure school administrators would want to recognize and celebrate.

Other classrooms, however, do not.

Parents say their kids have often encountered pushback when they show up to class with the CO2 monitors, so some have taken to disguising the devices to make them less noticeable. Neither school authority would say it has an outright ban on the devices, but they discourage their use.

The CBE said: For reliable carbon dioxide monitoring, testing needs to be conducted using properly calibrated devices operated by trained individuals.

The CCSD said it cannot solely rely on data from potentially miscalibrated devices attached to the backpacks of school-age children.

Both divisions say they do occasional air-quality testing of their own. But parents say this isnt enough and isnt nearly transparent enough.

They note other jurisdictions do regular, professional testing with results everyone can see. Quebec, for instance, publishes weekly air-quality reports from its schools. In Boston, the public school authority has created an online dashboard with real-time air-quality data from thousands of classrooms.

In the absence of such data from local school authorities, the Calgary parents say they have no choice but to rely on their ad-hoc air-quality monitoring.

So where do things go from here?

The CCSD said no policy is ever final, but it added any hypothetical decision to add HEPA filters to classrooms must also consider public funding limitations and fiscal responsibility.

As the majority of our funding goes toward teachers and staff, a shift in this direction would come at a cost fewer teachers.

Asked repeatedly whether it is open to changing its own policy, the CBE would not answer the question.

Meanwhile, the parents have no plans to give up their campaign.

They recognize COVID concerns have waned. They know most folks just want to move on.

I do understand that for a lot of people its not as important of an issue, and they want to be done with it, said Watanabe.

But when she and other parents look at things like the surge in school absences last fall, the chaos that ensued at the Alberta Childrens Hospital and the ongoing questions surrounding long COVID, they want to reduce those risks as much as possible.

They see HEPA filters, in particular and a more open, transparent approach to air quality, in general as a step in that direction.