She added the most recent testing took place in December and January, and all results were below the EPA action level. Since 2021, the district also has upgraded its heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, performed preventative maintenance, and installed continuous air quality monitoring devices.
Mark Stein, facilities officer for Bethlehem Area schools, said the district has tested for radon in the past but does not do so as part of its regular indoor air quality testing. While BASD has not budgeted money to perform testing this academic year, it will include radon in next year ' s round of air quality testing, which is likely to occur in October.
However, Stein said that school buildings are not the same as an average home and while he agrees that testing for radon is important, he doesn ' t view the study ' s findings as particularly useful.
" The main defense against radon is ventilation. At our homes, most people do not have fresh air ventilation, so the air sits in your basement, kind of stale, and that ' s how it builds up and becomes an exposure hazard for occupants. Commercial buildings have a fresh air requirement and we ' re turning the air over four, five or six times an hour," Stein said. " As a building engineer I think schools are much safer for radon compared to the houses where all the kids live."
Northampton Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said the district has been contracting with professionals to do indoor air quality testing for more than 20 years, and radon testing has been done in the last seven or eight years.
However, in light of the study, Northampton will have radon testing performed by professionals in the first week of June. He added that five of the district ' s seven buildings already have radon mitigation systems.
" The district has always taken a proactive approach in regards to indoor air quality testing," Kovalchik said. This may not be the last study from Yang; he said working on this paper increased his interest in academic research, and he plans to study public health and environmental hazards in college.
" I ' m interested to see the exposure of students in other states that have high radon levels," Yang said. " I ' d say maybe in college I will want to see how different environmental hazards other than radon affect the youth and how they affect them more than adults. The youth area group that may not have a strong voice and advocate for themselves. I think it ' s important to recognize that environmental hazards may be hurting them more than adults and they need to be studied to make sure that children are in safe environments."
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