Half Of Bed-Stuy Schools Have Ventilation Problems: Report

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — More than half of Bed-Stuy's 51 public schools have some sort of ventilation problems, a potential roadblock in sending kids back for classes amid the coronavirus pandemic, a new report shows.

Education news site Chalkbeat has compiled inspection records for 1,700 of the city's schools as ventilation inspectors set out to determine whether their facilities are safe enough to allow students to return to class next month.

The report finds that more than 1,000 of the city's schools have documented ventilation problems.

In Bed-Stuy, at least 29 of the neighborhood's 51 public schools had either problems with the air supply system — which brings fresh air inside the building — or the exhaust system, which brings stale air outside.

That number could also be even higher given that seven of the schools did not have one of the inspection reports.

The reports are based on inspections between fall 2018 and summer 2019. Another round of inspections was conducted this summer but has not been released publicly.

Good ventilation lowers the risk of transmitting the coronavirusthrough the air, and Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that inspectors had already been deployed, checking every classroom in every school to ensure that windows can open and the supply and exhaust fans are working properly before students return Sept. 10.

But the new report shows the immense scale of the problem, and backs up claims by some teachers and principals that their school buildings were poorly ventilated and ill-equipped to welcome back students during the pandemic.

Here are the results for Bed-Stuy:

Bedford Stuyvesant Collegiate Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: Unknown
• Supply fan deficiencies: Unknown
• Could not find inspection

Leadership Prep Bedford Stuyvesant Uncommon Prep Charter Academy - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Success Academy Charter School - Bed-Stuy 1 - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Success Academy Charter School - Bed-Stuy 2 - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Brighter Choice Community School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 25 Eubie Blake School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Brooklyn Academy High School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS 262 El Hajj Malik El Shabazz Elementary School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Brooklyn Brownstone School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 1
• Report

PS 3 The Bedford Village - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Madiba Prep Middle School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Brooklyn Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

Benjamin Banneker Academy - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS 21 Crispus Attucks - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 368 - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 308 Clara Cardwell - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 2
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS/IS 137 Rachel Jean Mitchell - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS 54 Samuel C. Barnes - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 2
• Supply fan deficiencies: 1
• Report

PS/IS 155 Nicholas Herkimer - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS 297 Abraham Stockton - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 93 William H. Prescott - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 40 George W. Carver - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 2
• Supply fan deficiencies: 1
• Report

Academy of Arts and Letters - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Bedford Academy High School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

Brooklyn East Collegiate Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

New Dawn Charter High School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 2
• Supply fan deficiencies: 1
• Report

PS 23 Carter G. Woodson - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS 373 Brooklyn Transition Center - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS 140 - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS/IS 157 The Benjamin Franklin Health & Science - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

Urban Dove Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: Unknown
• Supply fan deficiencies: Unknown
• Could not find inspection

Brooklyn Emerging Leaders Academy - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: Unknown
• Supply fan deficiencies: Unknown
• Could not find inspection

Brooklyn High School for Law and Technology - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

EMBER Charter School for Mindful Education, Innovation and Transformation - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 2
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Excellence Boys Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

Excellence Girls Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

La Cima Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

MS 35 Stephen Decatur - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 1
• Report

MS 267 Math, Science & Technology - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: Does not exist
• Report

PS 5 Dr. Ronald McNair - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 26 Jesse Owens - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 44 Marcus Garvey - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 59 William Floyd - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 81 Thaddeus Stevens - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

PS 309 The George E. Wibecan Preparatory Academy - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

The Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Unity Prep Charter School - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 1
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Whitelaw Reid Academy of Arts and Business - Brooklyn

• Exhaust fan deficiencies: 0
• Supply fan deficiencies: 0
• Report

Read more and view Chalkbeat's searchable database here.

Patch reporters Gus Saltonstall and Nick Garber contributed to this report.