Page 86 - Security Today, May/June 2022

Emergency Preparedness
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Balancing Safety and Sustainability to Upgrade School Infrastructure
School infrastructure has faced significant challenges over the past few years. Take the push to prioritize ventilation upgrades because of COVID-19, or the onslaught of natural disasters increasing in severity. In fact, in 2021 alone, the U.S. faced the hottest June on record, record-breaking fire destruction in July and rapid spread of the Delta variant through the fall. Unprecedented events like these won’t be slowing down any time soon. As administrators look forward, they are faced with the difficult challenge of ensuring their building infrastructure encompasses both short-term safety and long-term priorities while instilling public confidence.
The good news: The majority of Americans are cautiously optimistic about their community’s ability to handle future disruptions, according to a new study of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers that explored how Americans perceive school infrastructure. The study found that 55 percent of people believe schools are better equipped to handle another major disruption to education and 65 percent believe that schools have the necessary resources to manage students.
The not-so-good news: This public confidence doesn’t extend to their schools’ infrastructures. Most respondents don’t believe their
schools are in a better condition—or even safer—than five years ago. Educational institutions of all types, including K–12, private institutions and colleges and universities, have an opportunity to capitalize on the public’s confidence in school preparedness to alter this negative perception of school infrastructure. Strategic asset management (SAM) can help leadership create plans that optimize available resources and take long-term planning into consideration.
School leaders and facility managers can start now by leveraging data to capitalize on small, quick wins that maximize energy efficiency, improve emergency preparedness and grow public confidence.
Strategic Ventilation Upgrades
Improved ventilation systems in schools were a key infrastructure upgrade to support safer in-person learning even prior to the pandemic, yet nearly half of respondents expressed concern about the quality of air circulation in schools. Surprisingly, 63 percent of respondents said they would pay more taxes if it meant schools had better ventilation and filtration systems.
42 campuslifesecurity.com | MAY/JUNE 2022
By Steve Roth