Thirteen ventilation projects still under construction at Hamilton’s public board

Several COVID-19 infrastructure projects to improve air quality at Hamilton public schools are still under construction after the province extended completion deadlines by up to two years.

Of the 30 Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board projects under the COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream (CVRIS) - jointly funded by the federal and provincial governments - 17 had been completed as of Dec. 16, said spokesperson Shawn McKillop in an email.

Thirteen projects - including at Balaclava, Bennetto, Buchanan Park, Flamborough Centre, Franklin Road, Highview, Hill Park, Huntington Park, Memorial, Michaelle Jean, Mount Albion, Westmount and Yorkview - remain ongoing, with a new completion deadline of Dec. 31, 2023 (or 2024 for projects in designated rural areas).

Projects include replacement and installation of rooftop units, which distribute air, and unit ventilators, cabinet-style machines that bring outside air in.

The original deadline for projects at Hamilton schools was the end of last year.

McKillop said the schedule was amended to address industry supply-chain issues."

All of our CVRIS projects will be completed within the revised timelines," he said.

Additionally, there are HVAC renovations, which include replacing boilers, heat pumps, rooftop units and unit ventilators, taking place at Earl Kitchener, Parkdale, and Waterdown High.

At the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, all the ventilation projects were completed prior to the original deadline, said chair Pat Daly.

He said supply issues and weather have slowed some of their outdoor projects, such as playground upgrades.

Virtual learning is in place at Ontario schools until at least Jan. 17 amid a new surge in cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Critics say the closure is a result of what many have throughout the pandemic called reactive measures on the part of the province.

In a Jan. 3 interview, Flamborough-Glanbrook MPP Donna Skelly defended the government's pandemic preparation.

Every school in Ontario has a HEPA ventilation system," she told CBC's Paul Hunter. We've taken proactive steps."

Every school might have portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, mechanical air purifiers that can catch up to 99.9 per cent of airborne particles of a certain size, but every classroom doesn't - at least not in Skelly's riding.

In Hamilton schools, only full-day kindergarten classrooms and classrooms in schools without mechanical ventilation, designated as Tier 3, have HEPA filters, per Ministry of Education requirements.

Mechanical ventilation exchanges air, while HEPA filtration purifies air in the classroom.

At the public board, there are currently 889 HEPA filters in classrooms and other learning spaces. The Catholic board says it has installed about 1,100 filters in the last year and a half.

Per the ministry's rating, Tier 3 schools are considered to be without or with partial mechanical ventilation, and are supplemented with portable air filters. At the Catholic board, three schools (about seven per cent) - Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Eugene and St. Patrick - fall under this category. About 20 per cent at the public board are not mechanically ventilated.

Tier 1 and 2 schools are considered to be mechanical, with both supply and exhaust.

Public and Catholic boards say all portable classrooms are considered Tier 1, equipped with vertical unit ventilators.

Hamilton school boards are set to receive an additional 95 - 57 public and 38 Catholic - HEPA filters from the province. Boards say it is unclear when the filters will arrive or how they will be allocated.

We have not received any direction on how these units will be allocated," McKillop said.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com