Attention Deficit Disorder is a serious condition that is increasing to near epidemic proportions. It limits the ability of kids to learn and function socially and disrupts the whole school environment.
The most common drug prescribed for ADD is Ritalin.
Consider that the symptoms of ADD are exactly the same as “mountain sickness” or the combination of oxygen deprivation and carbon dioxide poisoning associated with functioning at high altitudes. The progression of symptoms begins with “lack of affect,” low attention span and mild nausea all the way up to psychosis and dementia at extreme levels of exposure.
A classroom full of active children is a closed environment. The heating and air conditioning system must artificially provide all the oxygen needed by the occupants and exhaust all the carbon dioxide.
Typically, the central AC system must change the entire volume of air in such a classroom with fresh outside air every 10 or 15 minutes. Failure to do so results in oxygen deprivation and carbon dioxide poisoning.
The cost of cooling and dehumidifying outside air can account for fully half of the air conditioning cost of a facility. Reducing the outside air intake can save half of that expense, and this can be done by closing one damper in a remote mechanical room. There are no noticeable effects of this other than perhaps a “stuffiness” in the room.
Schools have been desperately underfunded for years now. Nationwide, school boards have reduced or eliminated physical education classes to save money. Kids don’t take field trips to the museum anymore. They take “virtual tours” by watching a TV program. The economic downturn has forced school districts to cut corners to save money at every possible opportunity.
It’s infinitely easier to save money by closing a couple of outside air ducts, and it saves infinitely more money than any other measure. It’s so technical that few people will understand what is done. Air quality is not routinely measured even by the most sophisticated AC systems. There is no legal or professional accountability for failing to follow industry guidelines.
No one will ever know. It will be years before the affects surface in the form of ADD.
Well, it’s been years now that this is going on.
There needs to be accountability.
Now.
