The Tamaqua Area School District wants to learn more about the air quality inside its buildings and is considering testing monitoring equipment from an Allentown firm.

Superintendent Ray Kinder on Tuesday discussed working with IotaComm, which has sensors that can be placed into rooms that can detect such things as mold or carbon dioxide levels.

“We want to make sure that the air quality in our buildings is where it’s supposed to be,” he told the board.

Kinder explained that over the years the district has had complaints about air quality in a room, and the only way to find out what is going on is to have the room tested. The cost is usually about $1,000 a room, he said.

Each time the district has tested, the spaces in question have turned out to be lower than the acceptable levels, Kinder said.

The district hopes to work with the firm, possibly through a pilot program or other short-term commitment, to see if the equipment would provide useful data to help the district improve its air quality systems before making more of an investment, he said.

If useful, the district might be looking at one or two units to monitor its own air quality and work to improve its air quality systems, Kinder said.

The district already changes air filters regularly inside its buildings, and also uses air purifiers and air scrubbers in its buildings, moving them around on a rotating basis, he said.

“I want to make this clear for everybody,” Kinder said. “We do not have an air quality issue in any one of our rooms in our district.

“We are trying to be proactive and looking at seeing if we could create a better learning environment and possibly become more efficient to save money,” he said.