Chicago Jesuit Academy is One of a Few Chicago-Area Schools to Open for In-Person Classes

CHICAGO, September 16, 2020 (Newswire.com) - The Gies Campus of Chicago Jesuit Academy, a private, tuition-free college prep middle-school on Chicago’s West Side, today announced that it has started the fall 2020 semester with one-third of its students on campus for in-person, proctored eLearning – one of the few schools in Chicago to do so – as it’s installed innovative air filtration systems to address indoor air quality along with several other safety measures to best protect its students against COVID-19.

Chicago Jesuit Academy has collaborated with Purafil, a global leader in air filtration systems working with K-12 schools and universities across North America, to install PuraShield™ portable filtration systems throughout the school. With multi-stage patented filtration solutions that quickly and effectively remove 99.99% of aerosols carrying many viruses and bacteria, Purafil’s PuraShield™ 500 and PuraShield™ 1000 technologies will directly impact more than 100 students, faculty and volunteers at Chicago Jesuit Academy by improving their indoor air hygiene and boosting protection from viruses in the classroom.

“Providing a safe learning environment for our students is our number one priority,” said Matthew Lynch, President at Chicago Jesuit Academy. “We’re taking all the necessary preventative measures to best protect our students from COVID-19 and other viruses. As we’ve seen more research studies regarding how viruses are transmitted through the air, it was critical that we had a proven, reliable and portable air purifying system inside our classrooms for the start of the fall semester. Purafil’s solutions check all those boxes.”

The PuraShield™ units were delivered and installed at Chicago Jesuit Academy, located in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago’s West Side, on Sept. 10, 2020. The versatile plug-and-play products have made an immediate impact for students inside classrooms, offices, and other common areas. They use a combination of molecular and high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration to quickly remove toxic and damaging gaseous air pollutants and aerosols carrying viruses and bacteria.

“More and more schools are starting to understand that having clean indoor air is critical to helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne viruses,” said Kristofer Howard, Group President of Indoor Air Hygiene at Madison Industries. “We’re proud to bring our innovative and scientifically-backed air filtration solutions to students, teachers and staff at Chicago Jesuit Academy. As we all want to provide our children with the safest learning environment possible, our number one goal is for them to feel safe and protected from harmful airborne viruses as they return to class. We’re glad to have the trust and support of the administrators at the academy to provide them with one of the industry’s leading, proven air-cleaning solutions.”

These units clean 15,000 to 40,000 cubic feet of space per hour using millions of square feet of active media surface area. In addition, they are portable, allowing the units to be easily maneuvered to different areas of the school. These devices are also quiet and variable speed, emitting a constant low level of background sound, ensuring they do not interfere with classroom instruction.

“Having a Purafil unit in each classroom provides our teachers with more peace of mind by enhancing the safety of our classrooms. They are also providing peace of mind to our students and their families. We are grateful to add cleaner air to the list of precautions we are taking to ensure that Chicago Jesuit Academy is a safe learning environment for all of our students,” added Ms. Anne Durkin, Dean of the Lower School.

In addition to implementing research-backed air filtration solutions to protect their campus community, Chicago Jesuit academy has implemented every recommendation provided by health officials and the Centers for Disease Control, which include: requiring all students, faculty, staff and visitors to be masked at all times in the building; providing each student with clean masks each day; ensuring students and faculty engage in social distancing; limiting in-person learning to small groups; adding acrylic dividers to shared workspaces; installing MERV-13 air filters; increasing the number of hand sanitizer stations throughout the school; and replacing all drinking fountains with water bottle refill stations as well as providing each student with personal water bottles.

Working with K-12 school districts and universities across North America, Purafil and Madison Industries recently announced the delivery of PuraShield™ Smart 1000 solutions to Northwestern University’s athletic facilities as well as provided a large order of MERV 13 air filters to Los Angeles Unified School District in California. They are one of the only companies that have created a range of best-in-class products to address schools’ indoor air hygiene needs by targeting ventilation, humidity control and filtration. Addressing these three key areas is what is required for the healthiest indoor air environment, according to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and Harvard Chan School’s Healthy Buildings Program.

About Chicago Jesuit Academy

The Gies Campus of Chicago Jesuit Academy (CJA) is a full-scholarship lower and middle school for young men from modest economic backgrounds who could not otherwise access a well-resourced, faith-based, college-prep education in the Catholic tradition. CJA supports and advocates for CJA students and alumni as well as other children of modest means as they progress to and through college prep high schools, post-secondary education and the transition to meaningful careers and citizenship. CJA invites students to become persons for others who aspire to be open to growth, loving, intellectually competent, religious and committed to doing justice. Learn more at https://www.chicagojesuitacademy.org/.

About Purafil

Purafil, the leader in gas phase filtration, has been making the world safer, healthier and more productive since 1969. Its 50 years of experience fuels a passion to continually improve air quality by removing harmful and unpleasant contaminants from the air. Purafil protects thousands of people, processes and environments every day. Learn more about Purafil at https://www.purafil.com.

About Madison Industries

Madison Industries is one of the largest and most successful privately held companies in the world. Madison builds entrepreneurially driven, branded market leaders that are committed to making the world safer, healthier and more productive by creating innovative solutions that deliver outstanding customer value. The team at Madison is committed to building something truly remarkable that long outlasts them while coaching others to reach their highest potential. Please visit www.madison.net and www.indoorairhygiene.com to learn more.

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Pierpont Communications, Inc.

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Source: Chicago Jesuit Academy