Building Safety Precautions

Ventilation in School Buildings

Every classroom and office space used at Bronx Design have operable windows and air conditioners.

All DOE school buildings were surveyed by the NYC School Construction Authority.

• Learn about the Building Ventilation Survey reports and how to see the results for your school.

Cleaning and Disinfection

Schools will need to implement enhanced cleaning and disinfection of surfaces to ensure the health and safety of staff and students. Throughout the school year, the DOE will continue the rigorous practices used to prepare buildings for reopening, including:

• Providing adequate cleaning and disinfection supplies or plan to procure those supplies.
• Requiring deep cleanings to be completed on a nightly basis, including with the use of electrostatic sprayers.
• Improving HVAC systems to ensure proper ventilation.
• Setting-up enhanced cleaning in classrooms, bathrooms, and for high touch areas such as doorknobs and shared equipment such as laptops.
• Providing teachers with cleaning supplies for classrooms.

Screening and Entry/Dismissal Protocols

In order to minimize the number of individuals who come in contact with each other, and in order to identify potentially sick students and staff to the greatest extent possible, schools will be required to follow all applicable health guidance and to develop entry and dismissal protocols consistent with the latest health guidance, including:

• Staying up-to-date on guidance on symptom checks, which continues to evolve.
• Screening staff, students, and visitors daily on arrival for symptoms.
• Creating guidelines for health screenings of staff who report to work outside of morning arrival.
• Managing student drop off and pick up outside the school building to minimize the number of external visitors.

• It is strongly recommended that nonessential visitors do not enter the school building. Schools should limit the frequency and duration of other visitors.

Threshold for Closing Schools

Schools will need to close if New York City meets the following:

• The percent of positive tests in New York City is equal to or greater than 3% using a 7-day rolling average. If we cross this threshold, schools will close.