Ockley Green Middle School

Ockley Green students spend the day in poorly ventilated classrooms

Unless air purifiers are run consistently

Like nearly all PPS schools, Ockley Green's HVAC system delivers low air-change rates in classrooms and other learning spaces. The district's own measurements show that Ockley Green does not meet health-based goals for ventilation. The best way to reach healthy air targets is with a combination of building ventilation and effective in-room filtration, but ventilation in Ockley Green is poor, and it is critical that Ockley Green receives ongoing support for placing and using in-room air purifiers.

The one air purifier originally assigned to Ockley Green‘s rooms is insufficient and undersized for Ockley Green classrooms and large spaces. Two or more air purifiers per classroom can substantially improve air quality, reduce respiratory viruses and air pollutants, and achieve effective air cleaning, while running at quiet settings.

Two air purifiers are needed in Ockley Green's classrooms, auditorium, and library to more effectively clean the air. That’s why the Oregon Health Authority provided additional free air purifiers for Ockley Green in 2023. Ockley Green received some additional units and some classrooms should have two air purifiers each, but we have been told that some Ockley Green classrooms did not get the second air purifier. Teachers and staff at Ockley Green have also not gotten great guidance on running their one air purifier or why using two matters. At other PPS schools with the same problem, we've been able to help get this sorted out, especially when parents at a school work with us. To connect and support next steps for clean classroom air at Ockley Green, join our Ockley Green group, and learn more about Ockley Green‘s air quality below.

Without air purifiers, Ockley Green does not have clean indoor air

One air purifier is undersized for Ockley Green classrooms

With only one air purifier per classroom, Ockley Green classrooms still lack clean air:

Although the Intellipure air purifiers originally assigned to Ockley Green improve the school's clean airflow rates, they are insufficient in Ockley Green classrooms. Even with an Intellipure air purifier running at its reasonable noise level (half speed), the classroom with the lowest ventilation from the HVAC system — room 104 — is still far below healthy airflow targets. With room 104 at 1.4 air changes per hour, kids’ and staff’s viruses in their respiratory aerosols linger for over 1 hour and 39 minutes.

At 1.4 air changes/hour, 1 hour 39 minutes is how long it takes for the HVAC system and Intellipure air purifier to clear out 90% of the respiratory aerosols being produced when kids and staff breathe, talk, sing, cough and sneeze.

With only one air purifier per classroom:

✘ Worst-airflow classroom (room 104) is still less than 2 air changes per hour

✘ 2 more Ockley Green classrooms have less than 3 air changes per hour

✘ 25 classrooms are between 3 and 6 air changes – below recommendations

If one Intellipure unit is running at its quiet noise level, only 5 classrooms meet our minimum goal for healthy ventilation and filtration of 6 air changes per hour or more, clearing 90% of aerosols out in 23 minutes or less.

Ockley Green needs two air purifiers per classroom to clean classroom air

Two air purifiers make a big difference — but some rooms would still fall short

In some Ockley Green classrooms, the baseline ventilation is so low that two air purifiers alone cannot fully solve the problem. Even so, using both an Intellipure and a Medify Pro still makes a major difference in these rooms, reducing exposure for students and staff compared with using only one unit, or none.

For example, Ockley Green‘s worst-airflow classroom — Room 104 — is 4.3 air changes per hour even with two air purifiers. Although this is still below the minimum healthy air target of 6, it is far better than the 0.0 air changes per hour the room gets with no air purifiers running. Room 304 follows the same overall pattern, but at an even lower level: it reaches only 2.5 air changes per hour with two air purifiers, meaning that viruses, bacteria, asthma triggers, and other air pollutants linger in the classroom air for over 55 minutes. But without both air purifiers, Room 304 is only 1.9 air changes per hour. Room 104 is a third example with the same story. Even when operating two units, Room 104 is only 4.3 air changes per hour, but that airflow level is an important health protective improvement over the 0.0 air changes the room gets if relying on the HVAC system alone.

Visualizing how much air purifiers improve Ockley Green classroom airflow

The graphs below show how little ventilation most Ockley Green classrooms get without any air purifiers running. They also show how the addition of one air purifier per classroom shifts the rooms’ airflow rates higher but still leaves most rooms below health-based benchmarks for clean air. With two air purifiers per classroom, the pattern changes. Although two air purifiers would still leave 5 classrooms short of 6 air changes per hour, having two units per room would move most classrooms into the healthy air range above 6, and the lowest airflow classrooms would be much improved.

Number of classrooms vs air changes per hour

Ockley Green is likely missing some of its second air purifiers and needs them delivered from district storage

Although Ockley Green received some of its second air purifiers, our understanding is that not every classroom that needs two got a second unit requested. This is an understandable outcome since teachers and principals were asked to make decisions in a busy school environment about whether they wanted additional air purifiers, and at the time, previous district leadership was putting out misleading misinformation about Ockley Green air quality and how much clean air classrooms actually need. Many schools have not been given clear information about how multiple air purifiers running quietly together are needed to clean the air in a full classroom of 20 or 30 kids. And teachers have not been given good guidance on how and when to use both units. In a building like Ockley Green, where district data show such low ventilation rates, running two air purifiers, instead of just one, moves clean airflow toward health-protective benchmarks, providing critical benefits of clean indoor air, such as reduced illness, improved learning, and better attendance.

Placing and using this clean air infrastructure needs action at all levels, from district leadership to the classroom. Parents, caregivers, and school staff also have key roles to play to support daily use of two air purifiers in Ockley Green classrooms and ensure clean classroom air. Join SIAFOS and our Ockley Green group to connect with others who care about clean, cool classroom air at Ockley Green.

How can you help with clean air for Ockley Green?

Let's get Ockley Green's two air purifiers into all classrooms that need them — Sign up to help fix this so more of Ockley Green's air cleaners get delivered and running quietly to keep Ockley Green classroom air clean!

Two air purifiers running at quiet settings in each classroom would provide more air filtration to the 9 Ockley Green classrooms that do not even get 3 changes of air per hour and the 21 classrooms that only get between 3 and 6! Using multiple air purifiers would also ensure Ockley Green‘s library and other key spaces get better air quality, too.

Join us to be part of a group of parents and community members advocating for strategic, effective, and science-based planning for sufficient ventilation and filtration capacity in PPS schools — including Ockley Green. PPS air quality efforts have cycled between strong progress as well as periods of inaction and missteps. We are now working more collaboratively with district leadership, yet long-standing gaps in ventilation and air filtration persist across the district — which is why parent, staff, and community involvement at the classroom level, school level, and district level remains so important.

Changing our schools in PPS to have good air quality practices only happens when families and staff work together. When you join us, we’ll connect you with others and share simple processes that help PPS kids and staff, including kids and staff at Ockley Green, learn and work in classrooms with cleaner air, less illness, and healthier learning environments. Sign up below to join our organizing for PPS air quality!

*Notes on our numbers

Air changes per hour given on this page are “equivalent” and include ventilation and filtration.  These numbers are based on the district’s airflow report for Ockley Green, conducted in August 2021 (available at safeairoregon.org/original-airflow-reports) but corrected gaps and errors.