Schools & Daycares

What We Do

Children Share Everything in a Classroom — Including What’s in the Air

A standard classroom of 20 to 30 children generates a continuous stream of respiratory aerosols through talking, laughing, coughing, and breathing. Children’s immune systems are still developing, their respiratory airways are smaller, and their instinct to cover coughs and maintain distance is limited. The result is a near-ideal airborne transmission environment for influenza, RSV, COVID-19, and every other respiratory pathogen that circulates seasonally.

prePaer provides the same ULPA-grade filtration used in clinical healthcare settings — in a freestanding, immediately deployable format that requires no installation and fits any classroom, daycare room, or school common area.

The Scale of the Problem:

Most School HVAC Systems Were Not Designed to Address Airborne Pathogen Transmission

School buildings in the US average over 40 years in age. Their HVAC systems were designed for basic ventilation and temperature regulation — not for the kind of filtration that captures sub-micron pathogen-carrying particles. Even facilities with upgraded filters operate through dilution: slowly replacing contaminated room air rather than removing particles at the source. In a classroom where sick children are present for hours before symptoms are apparent, dilution is not a sufficient strategy. Real-time source control is.

Consider This: The Airborne Reality of a School Day

What Actually Travels Through Classroom Air From 8am to 3pm

- Children Average 6–10 Respiratory Illnesses Per Year: The majority are contracted in school or childcare settings via airborne transmission. Schools are among the most efficient respiratory pathogen transmission environments that exist.
- Pre-Symptomatic Spread: Children are often most contagious in the 24–48 hours before symptoms appear. By the time a child is sent home sick, they have already spent a full school day breathing shared air with 20 or more classmates.
- Asthma and Allergy Triggers: Pollen, dust mite particles, mold spores, and other allergens circulate in school air and trigger asthmatic episodes in children who are sensitive — accounting for millions of missed school days annually.
- Teacher Cumulative Exposure: Teachers are present for every period of every day, accumulating airborne pathogen exposure across a full school year. Respiratory illness is one of the leading drivers of teacher absenteeism and substitute teacher shortages.
- Cafeterias and Common Areas: High-density, unmasked environments with extended shared air time. A cafeteria at lunchtime concentrates the respiratory output of hundreds of children in a single space for 30 or more minutes at a time.
- Immunocompromised Students: Children undergoing cancer treatment, with organ transplants, or with primary immune deficiencies share classroom air with the general student population — with far less capacity to tolerate even ordinary seasonal respiratory pathogens.

Our Solution: The prePaer AER System

prePaer requires no installation, no HVAC modification, and no facilities coordination. Deliver it to a classroom, plug it in, and it is filtering the air immediately. For school districts and childcare operators who need to demonstrate active indoor air quality measures without capital construction budgets, prePaer is the practical answer.

The prePaer AER System

Clinical-Grade Air Protection, Ready for Any Classroom the Same Day

Completely Safe for Children of All Ages — Including Infants:

No ozone, no UV radiation, no ionizers, no chemical byproducts of any kind. prePaer’s purely mechanical ULPA filtration is safe for newborns, toddlers, children with asthma, and immunocompromised students. It purifies the air without introducing any risk to the children breathing it.

Quiet Enough for Active Learning Environments:

prePaer operates at noise levels appropriate for classrooms and childcare rooms where concentration, instruction, and audio clarity matter. It filters the air throughout the day without creating the disruptive background noise that some high-powered units generate.

Allergen and Asthma Trigger Reduction:

Beyond pathogens, prePaer captures pollen, dust mite allergens, and mold spores at 0.12 microns — directly reducing the airborne triggers responsible for asthmatic episodes in school-age children. For schools with a significant asthmatic student population, this is a measurable daily health benefit.

Deployable in Every High-Risk Space — Not Just Classrooms:

Cafeterias, nurse’s offices, daycare infant rooms, gymnasium changing areas, and school bus waiting areas all benefit from active air filtration. prePaer’s freestanding portability means one unit can be positioned wherever the transmission risk is highest at any given time of the school day.

Fewer Sick Days — More Instructional Time:

Every day a student or teacher misses due to respiratory illness is lost instructional time. Schools that reduce airborne transmission rates across the student and staff population directly improve attendance continuity — one of the most measurable outcomes of air quality investment in educational settings.

Parent & Community Trust

Visible Air Safety Is a Signal Parents and Administrators Notice

In the years since the pandemic, parents have become meaningfully more aware of indoor air quality in the spaces where their children spend the majority of their day. Schools and daycares that deploy visible, active air filtration measures signal a proactive commitment to child safety that resonates with families — particularly those with children who have asthma, allergies, or compromised immune systems.

For private schools and premium childcare centers, this is also a genuine enrollment differentiator. Families choosing between comparable institutions increasingly factor in visible health and safety infrastructure when making those decisions.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is prePaer safe for children with asthma or severe allergies?

Yes — especially so. prePaer produces no ozone, which is a known asthma trigger, and no harmful chemical byproducts. Its ULPA filter actively captures the pollen, dust mite particles, mold spores, and pet dander that provoke allergic and asthmatic responses. For children with respiratory sensitivities, prePaer improves rather than worsens their in-room air quality.

How noisy is prePaer during classroom use?

prePaer has three speed settings. Low speed operates at approximately 30 decibels — considered quiet, well within the range suitable for an occupied classroom. Medium and high speeds operate between 45–60 decibels, comparable to a running washing machine. For continuous classroom use during instruction, low or medium speed is appropriate. High speed is most useful for rapid air scrubbing before or after class periods when the room is unoccupied.

How many units does a school building need?

One unit per classroom is the standard recommendation for consistent protection. For a building-wide deployment, additional units in the cafeteria, nurse’s office, and gymnasium provide coverage across the highest-density spaces. Contact Claerosol to develop a room-by-room deployment plan for buildings of any size.

Can prePaer run all day during school hours without staff attention?

Yes. prePaer is designed for continuous unattended operation. Once positioned and switched on, it requires no adjustment or monitoring during normal use. Filter replacement is the only maintenance required — every two weeks under normal school conditions, though high-occupancy environments with elevated particulate loads may benefit from more frequent replacement.

Is prePaer suitable for infant and toddler daycare rooms?

Completely. prePaer is safe for infants from birth — no ozone, no UV, no chemicals. Infant and toddler rooms in childcare settings are among the highest-risk environments for airborne illness transmission due to the developmental vulnerability of very young children. prePaer provides meaningful protection without introducing any additional risk to the children in its presence.

The School Environment Deserves the Same Air Quality Standard as a Clinical Setting

Children spend more waking hours in school than in any other single environment. The air quality in those hours directly influences their respiratory health, their attendance, and their capacity to learn without the disruption of illness. The technology to meaningfully improve that air quality now exists in a portable, affordable format — the same ULPA filtration standard used in hospitals and pharmaceutical cleanrooms, available without infrastructure investment.

prePaer gives schools and daycares of any size and budget the ability to take a concrete, demonstrable step toward the indoor air quality standard that every child deserves.

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