By Keren Imberg, Ph.D., MBA 聽
Schools are considered high-risk environments for the transmission of infectious diseases due to the close and frequent contact that occurs among students and teachers. After the historic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, more schools are prioritizing public health in education.
Several studies and surveys have documented the presence of excessive bacterial burden in both high school and collegiate training room facilities. Athletic training rooms have a high prevalence of bacteria, including multidrug-resistant organisms, increasing the risk for both local and systematic infections in athletes. Adaptation of a hygiene protocol would lead to a reduction in bacterial and viral pathogen counts in these spaces, where close contact among athletes and, in the presence of poor hygiene and contamination, can predispose athletes to infection.
Despite the known potential for infection in the athletic training room, there remains a lack of knowledge among athletes, parents and athletic trainers about best practices to limit the spread of infection. To that end, schools are including advanced technologies such as ventilation, filtration, and lighting to help reduce infection-causing bacteria more safely, continuously and automatically.
Granite School District
Granite School District, located in the Salt Lake Valley, is the third-largest district in Utah and ranks among the largest public-school districts in the nation. Its boundary encompasses 257 square miles and includes 57 elementary schools, 15 junior high schools, eight high schools and other special schools and programs. With more than 60,000 students enrolled and aging school buildings dating over 100 years old, structural issues became a major challenge.
To address the problem of outdated and unsafe buildings, voters approved a $238-million bond in 2017 to fund the rebuilding and renovation of 31 schools over a 10-year period. In May 2019, the district announced plans to construct 21st century high schools to help students prepare for college and/or careers. Skyline and Cyprus High Schools, located in Millcreek and Magna, are included in the major strategic plans.
To provide equity between development of two different schools on different sites, architectural firms Fanning Howey, based in Indianapolis, and Naylor Wentworth Lund of Salt Lake City created a program focused on Granite School District鈥檚 central vision of flexibility, while allowing for customization at each site. The new facilities will have an emphasis on collaborative spaces, flexible learning environments, enhanced security and the ability to adapt to educational needs for decades to come.
Skyline High School, built in 1962, serves 2,156 students. Demolition and new construction is taking place in phases on the active campus, so students are not displaced. Construction began in November 2019 and is scheduled to end in December 2026.
Cyprus High School, with an enrollment of 2,650 students, opened its doors in 1918. The school is being rebuilt on a 60-acre location near Salt Lake Valley鈥檚 western foothills and is set to open in fall 2025. The district has worked with contractors for environmental remediation, geo-technical investigations and utilities planning. Construction was designed to take place in one continuous phase and began in November 2021.
Moving Forward
Over the course of several months, Fanning Howey and Naylor Wentworth Lund worked to redefine the district鈥檚 approach to high school education with similar plans for Skyline and Cyprus high schools.
鈥淓arly visioning and planning sessions involved district administrators as well as leaders and faculty from both schools, to build a common vision,鈥� said Michael Hall, AIA, lead architect at Fanning Howey. 鈥淭he design allows Granite [School District] to continue its departmental approach to high school education, but with an emphasis on next-generation learning.鈥�
The resulting design creates flexible, open space at the center of each learning community. The team鈥檚 focus on flexibility continues in the athletic portions of the high schools. Instead of a traditional gymnasium, the design team created large fieldhouses with four courts, partitions and upper-level running tracks. Each high school will also have an eight-lane, 25-yard competition pool with seating for 500.
The schools鈥� athletic programs are an important part of their educational missions. Renovation plans include upgrades for the athletic program: new grass and turf fields, tennis courts, pool, stadium and baseball stadium as well as new athletics buildings at each of the high schools.
Added Technology Improves Health
A state-of-the-art athletics building constructed at Skyline High School was completed in late 2021, and a similar building is currently under construction at the new Cyprus High School campus. To help reduce the potential spread of infection, each athletic building includes disinfecting lighting that uses safe, visible light to kill harmful viruses and bacteria automatically and continuously in the air and on surfaces.
Quantum Lighting Group of Salt Lake City chose Indigo-Clean luminaires from Kenall Lighting to help protect students and staff against illness. Garrett Ledger, director of Specification Sales, Quantum Lighting Group, specified Indigo-Clean lighting, which employs blended white and indigo light, for its environmental disinfection system. Unlike ultraviolet light, Indigo-Clean luminaires are safe for room occupants.
鈥淚ndigo-Clean luminaires were selected to reduce bacteria and viruses in the new athletics buildings because the areas are more prone to these challenges,鈥� said Ledger. 鈥淯ltimately, the lighting installation should help reduce the amount of illness in the schools. As a bonus beyond a reduction in bacteria, the district can anticipate low maintenance costs for the lighting because of the LED technology.鈥�
The installation includes Indigo-Clean MLHA8 linear surface-mounted fixtures in locker rooms and pendant-mounted models in the weight room and wrestling room. Indigo-Clean HADL6 downlights were selected for the toilet stalls, dressing rooms and shower stalls. Indigo-Clean HASEDI recessed 1×4 fixtures will be installed in the cardio room.
鈥淭o complement the school鈥檚 forward-thinking design, we knew it was important to upgrade the lighting technology from what was in the previous athletic building. The Indigo-Clean luminaires provide bright illumination, and the sealed enclosure housing prevents harboring of bacteria inside the luminaires,鈥� said Philip Borup, associate project manager, Envision Engineering.
Indigo-Clean lighting, a continuous disinfection technology, is patented and proven to kill harmful viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza-A, and bacteria linked to healthcare associated infections. Using a combination of 405nm Indigo and white LEDs, Indigo-Clean technology emits narrow-spectrum light that kills viruses and bacteria while providing ambient illumination.