North Bend School District Chooses Air Purification Provider

The North Bend School District in North Bend, Ore., recently announced that it has chosen Alen as its provider of indoor air quality solutions. According to a news release, the district has ordered 158 units to protect every classroom and communal space across its four schools, which serve a total of 2,300 students. Alen, based in Austin, Texas, has a presence in more than 50,000 classrooms across the country and provides solutions that purify the air of allergens, mold, dust, bacteria and other airborne viruses, including COVID-19.

“We conducted significant research in our selection of Alen’s purifiers to protect our students, faculty and staff with the most efficient air purification system,” said North Bend School District Superintendent Kevin Bogatin. “Alen air purifiers supplement our current HVAC system to deliver powerful air cleaning capacity that is whisper-quiet, meets the 4–6 air changers per hour according to public health recommendations and has medical-grade True HEPA filtration.”

The purifiers have already been installed at the district’s four schools: Hillcrest Elementary, North Bay Elementary, North Bend Middle School and North Bend High School. The press release states that air purifiers with the correct capacity for a classroom reduce virus particle counts, reducing the chance that an infected student will add enough particles to the air to infect another student. The air purifiers use specialized fans to pull air through a large HEPA filter, cleaning it of microscopic particles. Independent lab tests show that the Alen products can capture about 99.4% of virus particles from a 1,050-cube-foot area within 20 minutes.

“The decision-makers at North Bend did their homework, and the families in their district should be proud and grateful for their decision,” said Andy Graham, CEO of Alen. “We at Alen are dedicated to the science of air flow and how aerosol viruses travel, and we are on a mission to arm decision-makers with the facts. We are aligned with what scientists and experts are saying. There are three critical elements to consider: the number of air changes per hour, the need for true HEPA H13 filtration (not HEPA-like) and the need for a powerful system that can run constantly and—equally important—quietly.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • How One School Reimagined Learning Spaces—and What Others Can Learn

    When Collegedale Academy, a PreK–8 school outside Chattanooga, Tenn., needed a new elementary building, we faced the choice that many school leaders eventually confront: repair an aging facility or reimagine what learning spaces could be. Our historic elementary school held decades of memories for families, including some who had once walked its halls as children themselves. But years of wear and the need for costly repairs made it clear that investing in the old building would only patch the problems rather than solve them.

  • Armstrong World Industries Acquires Geometrik

    Armstrong World Industries, designer and manufacturer of interior and exterior architectural applications like ceilings, walls, and metal solutions, recently announced its acquisition of Canada-based Geometrik, according to a news release. The British Columbian Geometrik specializes in designing and manufacturing wood acoustical and wall systems.

  • California Middle School Completes Two New Academic Buildings

    Sunnyvale Middle School in Sunnyvale, Calif., recently announced that construction is complete on two new classroom buildings of two stories each, according to a district news release. The new wing will house seventh- and eighth-grade students and is part of a larger campus modernization project.

  • California High School Starts Construction on STEAM, Music Buildings

    Tamalpais High School, part of the Tamalpais Union High School District, recently broke ground on two new major facilities for its campus in Mill Valley, Calif., according to a news release. The district is partnering with Quattrocchi Kwok Architects (QKA) and Lathrop Construction Associates for the Science Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) and Music Buildings, both replacing their outdated counterparts.