For the time being, the city will not purchase any ventilation equipment for schools and children's facilities.
The city council decided that.
The decisive factor was less the costs than the uncertainty as to whether the devices are effective and prevent schools from being closed in the event of another corona wave.
Starnberg
- The city of Starnberg will not purchase any air filter devices for schools and children's facilities for the time being. Unlike in several local councils, there was no majority in the city council, even if one is aware of the parents' wishes there. However, the schools don't really agree either - some want the facilities, others don't.
The city council had already rejected the purchase in December, now a request from the CSU was the reason for renewed consultation. In fact, nothing has changed in the studies since then, the administration said, but there are funding programs and new statements from the Federal Environment Agency. That divided rooms into three categories: Well-ventilated rooms therefore do not need air filters, less well-ventilated ones do, and non-ventilated rooms should be left out for lessons anyway.
Many other questions are open, said the responsible employee in the meeting on Monday evening. The effectiveness is controversial, the devices only lasted three to five years, the delivery times are unclear (presumably at least several weeks) - and there is no guarantee that schools with air filters will not have to attend distance lessons in a fourth wave. For the schools and municipal children's facilities, the administration expects costs of around 700,000 euros. Without maintenance and servicing, which can cost up to 100,000 euros a year - nobody knows for sure. However, only the purchase (or rent or leasing) is funded, and only half of it.
The pressure on the municipalities from the state government does not go down well with many, not even with Mayor Patrick Janik. He thought that this “missed reality badly”, especially since short deadlines were mentioned, but the weeks-long award procedure would not be changed. Dr. Franz Sengl (Greens) said: There are no studies on the flow behavior of the air filter systems in classrooms, which is why it is not certain that all students are equally protected. “Basically there is nothing,” he said, speaking of a “quick shot” and “scientific and technical nonsense”. In addition: The devices would not filter out viruses at all.
Dr.
Ursula Lauer (Greens) also dealt with viruses at work; she considers the effectiveness of the filters to be too low compared, for example, to FFP2 masks and the systems in question are too inefficient for classrooms.
Other city councilors were similarly critical.
Josef Pfister (BMS) assumes that the devices will have long delivery times - "we're talking about next year on Whitsun".
“We have almost no other choice,” said Tim Weidner (SPD), referring to parental demands.
A 50 percent subsidy is not enough, the state should pay 100 percent if it wants the air filters.
Many parents also believed that ventilation was no longer necessary with the systems - a misjudgment, emphasized Weidner.
However, devices that could kill viruses are not on the funding lists, noted Marc Fiedler (FDP).
“The state government is starving us to death on the long arm,” he said, and one does not get a promise for secure face-to-face teaching.
Dr.
Charlotte Meyer-Bülow (CSU) is convinced that "security will certainly be increased" and that the city has a duty to make its contribution.
The aim is to prevent infection.
If you don't buy the equipment, “our parenthood will tear us apart,” feared Anke Henniger (FDP).
Since it is not yet clear which rooms fall into the classification of the Federal Environment Agency, an investigation was in the room that would have lasted until mid-August.
A number of city council members spoke out in favor of this.
Ultimately, there were various proposed resolutions to be voted on, for the purchase and against, for examinations, for the purchase only for classes under twelve years of age and a lot more. Since the proposal not to buy any devices at the moment due to the uncertain situation and instead to rely on permanently installed ventilation systems received a slim majority in the first vote, the other proposals were off the table. However, the city council also decided to require the Ministry of Education to provide binding statements on face-to-face care and teaching and to strive for 100 percent funding.