CARLSBAD — Parents, teachers and students have expressed growing concerns over poor air quality and delayed playground improvements at Carrillo Elementary School, leaving the frustrated parties searching for answers while district officials rush to address the issues.
Carillo Elementary, located at 2875 Poinsettia Lane near the San Marcos border in Carlsbad, is part of the San Marcos Unified School District.
Speakers at a Sept. 12 school board meeting expressed alarm over poor classroom conditions, including high humidity, elevated carbon dioxide levels and ongoing water intrusion.
During a San Marcos Unified School District board meeting on Sept. 12, Carrillo Elementary fifth grader Ryan McGowan described the discomfort his classmates have faced due to the current conditions.
“Many of our classrooms have been so hot and humid inside, it really gets smelly in class,” McGowan said. “We have been getting headaches and feeling like throwing up. A lot of kids, including myself, have gotten sick since school started, and I think it’s from the bad air quality in our classrooms.”
Mareesa Evans, SMUSD director of risk management, told The Coast News the elevated CO2 levels were linked to newly installed thermostats that had not been programmed in time for a record-breaking heat wave that hit the area in late August.
“These thermostats measure CO2 levels, and CO2 level monitoring is actually a tool for improving indoor air ventilation,” Evans said. “At no point in time was CO2 in our classrooms even at 4,000 [parts per million].”
Evans said the thermostats are part of a statewide CalSHAPE grant program to improve indoor air ventilation, but the installation coincided with the extreme weather, exacerbating the discomfort in classrooms.
The district said the CO2 levels peaked at around 2,000 ppm, which Evans said is normal during periods of high activity, such as after recess. She emphasized that the levels were far below the 5,000 ppm safety threshold set by Cal/OSHA, the state’s regulatory agency.
The district has hired Forensics Analytical, a third-party company, to monitor air quality and humidity, and Evans anticipates that readings will be available by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, the district has made temporary fixes, including HVAC adjustments, dehumidifiers and renting air conditioning units for some classrooms.
At the same meeting, fellow fifth-grader Charlotte Brennan voiced her disappointment over delays in playground renovations. The delays have left the play area fenced off and unfinished, which Brennan said has affected her emotionally and academically.
“It distracts me with emotions and thoughts,” Brennan said. “I hope before I leave Carrillo, I’ll see the new turf and blacktop and the CO2 will be fixed.”
Erin Garcia, SMUSD assistant superintendent of business services, said unexpected permitting requirements with the city of Carlsbad delayed the school’s playground improvements, which include installing a synthetic turf field and repairing the blacktop.
“We discovered that the City of Carlsbad, where this school is located, has an additional grading permit that we were not aware of,” Garcia said. “And unfortunately, we won’t be able to begin construction until sometime in March or April, as soon as the rains are done.”
Garcia told The Coast News that the playground project requires digging 18 inches below the surface to install cement-treated soil, which prevents water intrusion. However, the work is highly sensitive to moisture, so construction is delayed until after the rainy season to ensure the soil’s stability.
During the meeting, parents and teachers voiced strong disapproval of the district’s handling of the situation, with several parents criticizing what they said was a lack of adequate communication on the part of the district.
“My classroom did not pass air quality testing,” said Gina Duke, a longtime district employee and teacher at Carrillo. “I had to move my class and teaching materials to a different room for over a month while remediation of the air took place … and the trust at this point has been so badly damaged that it just might be beyond repair.”
Robin Diggle, a teacher at Carrillo, described experiencing “the worst working conditions in all my 20 years of teaching” due to high humidity and unsafe CO2 levels in her classroom.
“It’s crucial that these issues are promptly and effectively addressed to ensure a safe learning environment,” Diggle said.
Evans said the district is actively working to address these concerns, offering teachers temporary relocations to other classrooms. To help alleviate the conditions, dehumidifiers and rented air conditioning units have also been provided in two classrooms.
SMUSD spokesperson Amy Ventetuolo emphasized the district’s commitment to transparency, pointing to multiple efforts to communicate delays in playground improvements through emails, in-person meetings and board updates. Regarding HVAC and CO2 issues, Ventetuolo said the district sent two updates after Aug. 30 and provided further air quality updates at last week’s meeting.
“Our responsibility is to support our teachers, who support our students, and we truly want to be sure that we are communicating regularly, transparently,” Ventetuolo said.
