@nick__despo
Las Positas College is sponsoring an air quality resolution plan, created by LPC Student Government Student Trustee Garrett Culbertson, that provides LPC and Chabot College with N95 respirator masks for staff and students when air quality conditions are considered unhealthy.
Poor air quality caused by wildfires poses a huge risk on the health of students, faculty, classified professionals and administrative staff. The health, safety and education of students is the most important thing on a community college campus. The ability to learn is impacted heavily when a wildfire occurs. This air quality resolution plan will protect the health and education of students and employees at LPC.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Culbertson and ask him some questions about his air quality resolution plan. I asked him when LPC can expect to have respirator masks at hand for students and staff.
“Wildfire season typically starts around mid-summer and goes into the fall, so as long as we have those supplies before the end of this spring semester I am going to be happy,” Culbertson said. “Student government plans on buying some during this month and the Board of Trustees is going to be deciding on when they are going to be buying the masks.”
Two organizations are primarily going to be paying for it: Student Government and the Board of Trustees. Student Government gets its money from the student activity fee students pay when they register for classes.
“We’re going to be buying not as many as the entire school would need, somewhere between one and two thousand, but the Board of Trustees, which is the organization that oversees the majority of bigger school purposes, is going to be the ones in charge of purchasing this,” said Culbertson.
I asked Culbertson how much the estimated costs of the masks would be. “The price estimates we’ve looked at so far are approximately $13 for 20 masks. Since we have a little less than 20,000 students at both Chabot and LPC it would come out to approximately $13,000, but it’s a small price to pay considering the significance of it,” Culbertson said.
Culbertson is confident that the Board of Trustees will act on this proposed air quality resolution.
“Our Board of Trustees can choose not to act on it, but from my conversation with them they all seem to agree it is a very good idea and are very supportive of it,” said Culbertson.
There is also a chance of this air quality resolution being involved in all California Community Colleges. The Student Senate of California Community Colleges is voting in about a month on a series of resolutions and one of the resolutions will be the air quality resolution.
