An Environmental Checklist for Public Schools

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, August 24, 2004 (ENS) – With students and teachers across the United States returning to their classrooms, a broad coalition of public interest groups is calling for a concerted effort to identify and fix environmental problems in the nation’s schools.

The coalition warns that half the 54 million children and six million staff that attend the nation’s public schools may be exposed to unhealthy conditions.

"Exposure to mold, exhaust fumes, toxic cleaning substances, and dangerous pesticides place our children and teachers, at risk of myriad illnesses including developmental problems," said Kathy Lawson with the Learning Disabilities Association of America. "Our kids deserve the safest possible environment in which to learn and grow."

Going back to school should not mean heading back to a polluted environment, the coalition says. (Photo courtesy U.S. Census Bureau)

Potential environmental problems range from polluted indoor air, exposures to lead, asbestos, chemical fumes, pesticides, molds and other toxins, overcrowding and lack of sanitation.

These hazards can contribute to health concerns such as increased hyperactivity, asthma, learning disabilities, and environmental sensitivities.

"Having a healthy school environment is imperative in order for all children to reach their fullest potential," said Dr. Elise Miller, executive director of the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health. "If a child's ability to learn, pay attention and interact with peers and teachers is undermined by harmful environmental exposures, we are not only doing a disservice to the next generation, but to society overall."

The coalition is urging school officials and parents move beyond identifying the hazards, towards actively examining proactive prevention practices.

"We have a moral obligation to protect and promote the health of children," said Claire Barnett, executive director of the Coalition for Healthier Schools. "Clear and convincing research shows that improving indoor environments, siting, design, and using nontoxic products for instruction and for maintenance, and having safe outdoor activity areas will all contribute to improving child health and public education, and to creating healthier communities."

The coalition’s checklist provides resources to develop a preventive and cost-effective action plan to protect children’s health and improve school facility conditions.

Gym at a school in Southern California (Photo courtesy ACLU)

"Every parent, student, teacher and community has a right to know the environmental health effects of their school practices," said Lois Marie Gibbs, the former Love Canal crusader who now serves as executive director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.

"It is our responsibility to explore the long standing harmful habits of school operations and replace them with preventative and precautionary methods," Gibbs said.

Federal and state governments need to do more to safeguard the nation’s 95,000 public schools, the coalition said, many of which lack adequate funds to conduct school health and safety repairs and renovations.

According to the National Center on Education Statistics and the National Education Association, the nation’s public schools need more than $250 billion for construction and urgent repairs.

The coalition members acknowledge that the funding gap is daunting, but contend the federal government needs to take at least a modest step to help.

They are calling on the Bush administration and Congress to allocate federal funds for states to conduct school health and safety repairs and renovations, and to fund the Healthy High Performance School Act in "No Child Left Behind" at a minimum of $25 million a year.

This annual Department of Education appropriation would activate a grant program to help states show schools how to design and engineer healthier and more energy efficient facilities.

An education budget amendment to renew a $1 billion appropriation to the states for school repairs failed in the U.S. Senate last year by a single vote.

The checklist can be found here and at: www.healthyschools.org.