The Calgary Board of Education has yet to provide more than just stock answers and form letters to the many families who have been asking about improvements to Indoor Air Quality measures in schools. Stay tuned for more on this subject, as we continue to advocate for conditions that will keep staff and students as healthy as possible!
When I found out that COVID-19 spreads through the air, I got interested in IAQ (Indoor Air Quality). Turns out that air filters and ventilation can help to stop the spread of airborne particles - not just COVID, but all sorts of stuff you'd probably rather not breathe in (forest fire smoke, for example). I am not an expert in this subject, though, so I listened to a 2022 online talk by IAQ expert Joey Fox, and took some notes: Learning about IAQ led to me getting curious about indoor air quality at schools, which are high points of transmission for airborne illness. I've written a few letters in the form of comics to my local school board here in Calgary (the Calgary Board of Education) asking what is being done about this. If you're interested in that, skip ahead to the long comic strip letter I presented at a January 2023 school council meeting. Otherwise, just scroll down through my most recent blog posts, which provide a bit more context about this subject, before getting to the letter.
The Calgary Board of Education has yet to provide more than just stock answers and form letters to the many families who have been asking about improvements to Indoor Air Quality measures in schools. Stay tuned for more on this subject, as we continue to advocate for conditions that will keep staff and students as healthy as possible!
9 Comments
On this blog, I've posted a couple of updates about the comics I've written to the Calgary Board of Education Trustees, about Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in schools. I thought I might as well add a couple of other related comics here - I wrote these back in November and December 2022. After sending these letters, I was able to have a on-screen call with my local school board trustee. What happened after that? I wrote about that in my previous blog post - take a look!
Hello! Over the years, this blog has been a place for writing about local community events and art/writing projects that I've been involved in. After a long hiatus, I opened up this blog again! But this time, it was to write about a letter I sent to the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) Trustees.
But, unfortunately, the message doesn't seem to be getting through to the people I was addressing it to: the school board trustees! It was written in response to a conversation I had with one of our school board trustees, who asked me to clearly state "the problem we are trying to solve." In the comic, I phrased it this way: "I'm perplexed as to WHY the COMPELLING EVIDENCE presented by many MEDICAL & AIR QUALITY EXPERTS in favour of the use of HEPA filters as a tool for REDUCING THE SPREAD of airborne illness in SCHOOLS, has NOT persuaded the CBE to RECONSIDER its decision to forbid their use!” When my school board trustee read this, she said it still didn't seem like a "solveable problem" she was equipped to respond to. (That's another problem, I think!) But I gave it a shot: I drew one more panel, rephrasing the problem in even simpler terms, in hopes that this would be acceptable to her. Here's the panel: Was this acceptable? I don't think so. I received a letter from the Board of Trustees last week, and here's what it said: Dear Sam Hester, Thank you for taking the time to write and illustrate your creative letter to the Board of Trustees of the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), dated January 19, 2023, regarding indoor air quality at CBE schools. Now that all Trustees have had the opportunity to read your letter, we want you to know how important it is that you took the time to write and illustrate it. Your input helps the Board be aware of Calgarians’ concerns as we fulfill our key role in providing oversight of the CBE and monitoring student success. As Trustees, we need engaged people like you to share your vision for public education, and to hold us accountable to the Board of Trustees’ core values: Students come first. Learning is our central purpose. Public education serves the common good. Thank you, again, for taking the time to write. Best regards, Trustee Vukadinovic, on behalf of the Board of Trustees It's just a form letter! There isn't even a glimpse of an answer to my question, or even an acknowledgment of the question. So I guess I will have to write another letter.
I wrote this letter to the Calgary Board of Education Trustees so I could ask them about Indoor Air Quality measures (or, really, the lack thereof) at CBE schools. I haven't written anything on this blog in so long! But this comic is too long to attach to emails, so I thought I'd post it here. We'll see what happens!
|
sam hesterI am a graphic recorder based in Calgary. I like local stories. I write comics when I have free time. And I leave eraser shavings everywhere I go. Looking for a
|
archives
October 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2020
December 2018
October 2018
September 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
July 2017
June 2017
April 2017
March 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
April 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
Some nice things people said about my work:
“If Breitkreuz and Foong [founders of the Calgary Comics & Entertainment Expo] represent the Type-A side of Calgary's self-publishing community, Hester may be the community's right brain.” – Tom Babin, FFWD Magazine
“…A strong graphic style similar to other autobiographically-inclined Canadian cartoonists like Chester Brown and Julie Doucet.” – Gilbert Bouchard, Edmonton Journal
The 23rd Story: an indie comics creator's tales of life in Calgary