United Way seeks Northern Lehigh as pilot site for DEP‑funded indoor air monitoring; data would be public

The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley is seeking Northern Lehigh School District’s participation as a pilot site for a Department of Environmental Protection grant that would fund indoor air‑quality monitors in several school buildings.

Doctor Link described the proposed program and said the devices would measure temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, barometric pressure, light (lumens), motion and particulate levels and update a web‑based dashboard via cellular service so the monitors do not need to interface with district networks. "We would own the data. The data would be anonymized," he said, but added that recent legal advice indicates the monitoring data would be subject to Right‑to‑Know requests because the devices and resulting data are part of a publicly funded grant.

Under the proposal, there would be no cost to the district for the monitoring installation and the district would receive dashboard access. The United Way and installation partner (IotaCom) also plan an educational component to connect air‑quality metrics to curriculum standards. District staff suggested training building HVAC technicians and the district’s maintenance lead to monitor dashboard alerts and bring any concerns to the board.

Board members asked technical and deployment questions: one member asked whether monitors would be in every classroom and the administration said each monitor covers a large square footage (about 3,500 sq ft) and likely only a few monitors would be installed per building, positioned in representative zones. Administrators said the effort is intended as data collection to inform possible interventions and that other districts (Allentown, Easton Area) are pursuing similar projects.

Administrators said they will place a letter of support on the upcoming board agenda and continue to coordinate logistics with the United Way if the committee supports that next step.