Paramount USD has received various public records requests from the Center of Environmental Health (CEH) since July 2019 and the district has provided information indicating the HVAC services that the district has used for years.

More recently, staff scheduled a phone conference with Ms. Kaya Sugerman from the Center of Environmental Health to address updated information and the various public records requests and information dating back to July of 2019. Ms. Sugerman agreed to a phone conference which was held on August 12, 2020. Mr. Law, Mr. Frutos and Ms. Nunez participated in the conversation with Ms. Sugerman.  District staff explained the process the District has used to procure HVAC services including filtration, and the details of the rationale for the district to use a company for services including filter changes.  The District detailed an email with information from the Maintenance Department explaining that several years ago it was determined that district staff going on roofs to change filters created significant potentially dangerous conditions.  To reduce the potential challenges to District staff, the district decided at the time to transfer the service to a contractor that was “licensed to do that kind of work”.   Because of this process, the district has not procured specified filters in a manner that data could be provided to CEH. Furthermore, the district received a donation of Aeramax filters, outfitted with carbon filters to assist with the identification of odors in district locations, with no district specification for the filters in the donated units.

Staff explained to Ms. Sugerman, who was well informed and asking for various clarification points, that with the advent of Board approval of the Long Beach Grant (which provides for Merv 16 filters), and the Board direction to procure HEPA filters for the Aeramax units, the District began a process for filter procurement that will generate information in alignment with CEH requests.   Ms. Sugerman mentioned that she understood that once the District procures the various filters, specific information regarding the procured filters will be able to be provided to CEH.

The District assured Ms. Sugerman that once the procurement is Board approved, the details of the various filters procured will be provided to Ms. Sugerman at CEH.  From the conversation, Ms. Sugerman mentioned that she understood that the district had done in years past and that she was interested in the information provided once we had the necessary approvals.  As recent questions from a Board member's PRA are in essence those provided with responses to the prior inquiries from CEH (both 2014-date and 2016-date), the information is detailed again for response and clarification:

----time period beginning January 2014 through the present:

1. All invoices and receipts for school HVAC system replacement filters purchased by the PUSD and PUSD schools.  The District procures HVAC maintenance services which include the provision of filters, but separate filters for our HVAC units are not typically procured by the District.

2. All documents with information about filters used in PUSD HVAC systems and portable air purification systems, with sufficient information to determine the type of filter, product name, brand, supplier, SKU, and all other product identifiers.  The District does not purchase portable air purification systems; however, we have carbon filters for donated Aeramax units.