Palm Beach County School District Reveals $6M Spend For 13,000 HEPA Air Purifiers
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2021 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — The Palm Beach County School District affirmed Thursday that students will be learning behind plexiglass barriers when the school year starts on Tuesday.
All of the barriers that were erected on desks during the 2020-2021 school year will return. The use of the barriers was confirmed to BocaNewsNow.com before a Thursday afternoon community and news media event.
Even with the plexiglass, ”we’re going to be as close to normal as possible,” said interim Superintendent of Schools Mike Burke who revealed that 13,000 air purifiers were purchased for classrooms, and will first be deployed to elementary schools. Additional schools will receive the units as they arrive.
The Palm Beach County School District authorized $6M for the air purifiers, largely with COVID-related funds received from the federal government.
Edward Tierney, assistant superintendent, stated during a public meeting that any student testing positive for COVID-19 must remain home during a mandatory 10 day quarantine period. All tests are reported to the Florida Department of Health which also oversees contact tracing. Parents must comply with the quarantine mandate, and are required to report positive COVID-19 tests to the District with in 24 hours of receiving a result.
The Palm Beach County School District ended the year with 3,856 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The school district counter will be reset when school starts on Tuesday.
