Below you will find updates and documents related to the comprehensive maintenance, modification, and improvement plan for the ventilation systems in all Newton Public School buildings. The plan is monitored and evaluated by the City of Newton Public Buildings Department, in coordination with the facilities department of the Newton Public Schools.

Current status is as follows:

To share the results of the work completed, we have developed “Ventilation Data Dashboards” for each school. Dashboards will be shared as testing results are known and confirmed. Dashboards have the following color codes:

• Green: meets minimum fresh air requirements
• Yellow: not yet confirmed to meet minimum requirements
• White: The test was not yet completed or was incomplete.

A majority of our classroom spaces meet ventilation requirements and are coded green. For spaces coded yellow, the following steps have been taken:

• Remedial work identified, assigned to a contractor and scheduled
• Once work is completed, retesting is scheduled
• For incomplete tests, testing is rescheduled

In many cases, remedial work has commenced and/or has been completed. In spaces in which remedial work has been completed, re-testing has or will be scheduled this month. Updated test results will be posted as they are received and confirmed.  

In spaces coded yellow in which remedial work is ongoing, or has been completed and is awaiting re-testing, air purifiers will be installed and/or windows will be opened. One or both of these steps will ensure proper ventilation until the remedial work and re-test is complete. 

Remedial work and testing will continue until all spaces are coded green.

On Monday, September 21, 2020, NPS shared an updated plan for for ventilation repair, modification, and improvement. Linked below, you will find a memo and a slide presentation of the updated plan. A summary of the plan is as follows:

Given the critical nature of ensuring both unit ventilators and all components of our HVAC systems are functioning at full capacity, the district, in partnership with the City of Newton Public Buildings Department, has developed a multi-pronged strategy to address repair, maintenance, and modifications to our mechanical ventilation systems. This multi-pronged strategy involves three key professional contractors to assist in achieving our objectives. 

• Mechanical engineering firm
• Air testing and balancing firm(s)
• HVAC contractor(s) (in addition to current Boston Mechanical HVAC vendor), 

Crowley Engineering, City of Newton on-call engineer, will perform an existing conditions analysis and technical assistance and support school buildings in the district. HVAC contractors will service, repair (if necessary), and improve (if possible) more than 1,000 unit ventilators in as many as 20 schools. The air testing and balancing firms will perform tests on all equipment to ensure maintenance services have achieved desired result. More details on the plan can be found in the documents below:

Memo to NPS School Committee on September 21, 2020.

Presentation to NPS School Committee on September 21, 2020.