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Case Studies

Carrier Delivers Peace of Mind to School District

Of all the challenges facing the San Bernardino City Unified School District to re-open their 72 sites post-COVID-19, none were more important than delivering a high degree of IAQ and promoting a safer environment for everyone entering each building. This meant efficiently mitigating airborne particles by increasing air changes per hour in each occupied space.

Case Study

Company:

School

Location:

San Bernardino, CA

Objective:

Of the myriad challenges facing the San Bernardino City Unified School District to re-open their 72 school and five administrative sites post-COVID-19, none were more important than delivering a high degree of indoor air quality and promoting a healthier and safer environment for each student, faculty and staff member who would be entering each building and space. This meant efficiently mitigating airborne particles by increasing air changes per hour in each occupied space.

Solution:

The District turned to Russell Sigler, Inc. to deliver premium technology to improve indoor air quality within each school. Sigler’s professionals knew that Carrier had created the OptiClean negative air machine and air scrubber units as portable solutions primarily designed to help convert normal hospital rooms into airborne infectious isolation rooms (AIIR) to help combat airborne particulates. Sigler believed that, with minor modifications, including adding silencers and diffusers, OptiClean air scrubbers would be the perfect solution.

Results:

The District contracted to have initial ‘before and after’ IAQ testing done in selected classrooms. “Some of us have the OptiClean units in our own offices; aside from the IAQ benefits, it provides an increased level of confidence and safety,” said Sam Precie, Administrator of Operations, SBCUSD. “Our initial classroom IAQ testing results indicate that this reaction will continue,” he commented. The OptiClean air scrubber dramatically illustrates how Carrier’s technology, engineering capability and manufacturing capacity combined to help the San Bernardino City Unified School District achieve their IAQ goals.

 

The San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) serves approximately 48,000 students and is the ninth-largest school district in California. Two schools, Richardson PREP HI Middle School and Middle College High School, were named National Blue Ribbon Schools and the District has 16 California Distinguished Schools. The District is comprised of 50 elementary, 11 middle, eight high schools, and one adult school. This includes two alternative schools, one community day school, and Anderson School to serve their diverse students.

When it came time to address re-opening their facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, the SBCUSD’s Board knew that confidence in the air quality in every occupied indoor space had never been a more critical issue for faculty, parents, staff and students. But according to experts, an evidence-based approach and healthy building strategies can help reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission – and promote a safer indoor environment in support of student health and progress moving forward.

For a successful solution, the SBCUSD’s Board turned to Russell Sigler, Inc. to recommend and deliver the leading-edge technology to address IAQ concerns within each school. “OptiClean represents an investment in people’s lives,” said Tom Pace, SBCUSD’s Director of Facilities. “Our goal was to achieve a solution which supported our IAQ strategy while not taking away from our uncompromising level of educational experiences.” he continued.

Sigler clearly understood the technical and logistical challenges posed by the SBCUSD’s requirements. “We knew that the final proposed equipment strategy would need to be extremely efficient, have HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Arrestor) -grade filtration, mitigate airborne particulates through increased air changes per hour, operate quietly and be portable,” said Joseph Morales, Sigler’s Commercial Strategic Account Manager for school district communities. “Additionally, manufacturing, delivery time and deployment of thousands of units to the district’s individual locations were of the essence,” he continued.

Sigler recommended Carrier’s OptiClean air scrubber units. “Our ‘aha moment’ struck as we were reviewing a hospital OptiClean air scrubber demo unit in our office,” commented Carlos J. Martinez, Sigler’s Commercial Sales Manager. “It had an efficiency rating of 99.97%, removed particles as small as 0.3 microns, exceeded ASHRAE’s school reopening recommendation for air changes per hour, exceeded SBCUSD’s MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) 13 requirements, was portable, and available in 500 and 1,500 CFM sizes for flexibility,” he concluded. Sigler calculated the maximum number of air changes based on classroom sizes and made minor modifications, including to add silencers and diffusers to both the 500 and 1,500 CFM units.

The SBCUSD also contracted to have initial ‘before and after’ IAQ testing done in selected classrooms. “Some of us have the OptiClean units in our own offices… aside from the IAQ benefits, it provides an increased level of confidence and safety,” said Sam Precie, Administrator of Operations, SBCUSD. “Our initial classroom IAQ testing results indicate that this reaction will continue,” he commented.

In addition, the SBCUSD was promoting the implementation of OptiClean air scrubber units in their classrooms. “We’ve created an ongoing ‘Confidence Campaign’ to keep our SBCUSD family informed with up-to-the-minute information about all our facilities,” said Maria Garcia, SBCUSD’s Communications Officer. “The OptiClean units are prominently featured in our video as well as social media communications…they’re getting a lot of positive exposure,” she concluded.

The OptiClean air scrubber dramatically illustrates how Carrier’s technology, engineering capability and manufacturing capacity combined to help the San Bernardino City Unified School District achieve their IAQ goals.