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Welcome
The following presentation is a collaborative effort between AASA and
the EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection.
The presentation is an overview of school environmental health and its
impact on costs and academic achievement.
The presentation also serves as an introduction to the EPA’s School
Environmental Health Program Guidelines that will help states, tribes,
and territories establish and sustain K-12 school environmental health
programs, which create healthy learning environments. This guidance
has similarities to the EPA’s Tools for Schools program and will be
referenced by AASA in future technical assistance.
For more information, contact Yasmin Bowers, project director of
AASA’s Healthy School Environments, at [email protected].
After viewing the presentation, please submit an evaluation HERE.
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About AASA …
• 146 year old membership organization for school
system leaders
• Affiliates in 49 states, Canada, Overseas
• Programs address the needs of children –indoor
air quality (IAQ), asthma, and obesity
– technical assistance, resources, and EPA IAQ Tools for
Schools (TfS)
– asthma action plans, tobacco-free and idling policies,
and education for school leaders
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AASA’s Healthy School Environments
Goals:
• Increase awareness/understanding of IAQ
principals and risks
• Promote voluntary best practices
• Elevate importance of addressing IAQ issues
Lessons Learned:
• Formalized IAQ plans are successful
• Collaboration is key to sustain an IAQ program
• Responsibility and delegation
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Why School Leaders Should Be
Concerned
Poorly managed IAQ can:
• increase absenteeism of students and staff
• reduce productivity for teachers and staff
• increase potential for health problems
• strain relationships among parents, staff and the
community
• create potential liability problems
• damage reputations through negative media and
loss of public trust
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Why School Leaders Should Be
Concerned
IAQ Best Management Practices can:
• improve educational outcomes
• save money
• promote greater community
involvement
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• improve student health
Get Schooled on Green and Healthy Schools: Leveraging K-12
School Environmental Health Programs to Save Money and
Increase Academic Performance
American Association of School Administrators
September 2011
Overview
On any given day in America, 50 million children spend as much as 10
hours inside a school building. When the indoor environment of school
buildings is poor, students are at risk of exposure to pollutants and
chemicals that can harm their health, and cause their attendance and
academic performance to suffer.
• Environmental factors within school facilities such as indoor air
quality significantly affect the health of students and staff.
• A school’s physical environment impacts the performance, and
productivity of both the students and the staff.
• Children are at particular risk of exposure to environmental hazards.
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Children’s Exposures are Different
Growing children eat, drink, and breathe more, relative to their body
weight, than adults do. This means that a typical child’s exposure to
pollutants is higher than that of a typical adult, and a child’s developing
systems are more vulnerable to the effects of environmental exposures
in school facilities.
Effects of environmental exposures include:
• Respiratory irritation
• Sore throats
• Drowsiness
• Headaches
• Asthma attacks
• Inability to concentrate
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Healthy School Environments
While no two schools are identical, the following are broad categories
of environmental health issues that all schools need to address to
ensure that school environments are healthy and promote high
achievement by students and staff:
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•
Implement Clean Smart Practices;
•
Maintain Dry Facilities;
•
Properly Manage Chemicals and Contaminants;
•
Maintain Good Indoor Air Quality; and
•
Implement an Integrated Pest Management Program.
Best Practices
Many measures, protocols and best practices for school facility
managers and occupants, can be implemented with little to no
upfront costs, yet, can significantly improve the environmental health
of students and staff. For example:
•Increasing ventilation rates to meet American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) standards
can improve student performance and reduce the transmission of
airborne infections4
•Modest changes in room temperature (e.g., 77ºF to 68ºF) can have
a positive impact on the students' ability to perform mental tasks
requiring concentration11
•Targeting energy efficiency in school operations and maintenance
can reduce energy bills by 5% to 20%9
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•Implementing school environmental health programs can minimize
children’s environmental health risks
School Environmental Health Programs
A school environmental health program is a holistic, strategic plan
that protects the health of students and staff by addressing
environmental health issues commonly encountered on school
campuses.
School environmental health programs can:
• Improve the environmental health of students and staff;
• Reduce operating costs & save schools money;
• Increase student productivity and performance;
• Reduce rates of student and teacher absenteeism; and
• Increase teacher satisfaction.
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Academic Achievement
The benefits of establishing K-12 school environmental health programs
stretch far beyond improved environmental health to include:
Increased Academic Performance - The healthier the school
environment, the more likely students and staff will be healthy
enough to attend school, resulting in:
•
Decreased absenteeism of both students and teachers2, 3;
•
Higher scores on standardized tests1; and
• Positive impact on the students' ability to perform mental tasks
requiring concentration (e.g., addition, multiplication, and
sentence comprehension)11
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Cost Savings
Small investments made to improve environmental health in schools
can yield even greater cost savings to include:
• Decreased school spending in areas such as electricity,
gas, water, and facility maintenance
– Energy Star buildings typically save 35% or more as compared to
average similar buildings
• Helping schools avoid costly cleanups and remediation that
result from chemical spills or mold and mildew damage
– Individual school districts have incurred costs from $200,000 to $13
million for remediating mold and mildew damage5-8, 10
Costs savings can be reallocated to critical expenses such as teacher
retention, funding for salaries, books, and other teaching materials.
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Federal Guidance
EPA has been mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 to issue two sets of voluntary guidelines to help states, tribes and
territories address school environmental health issues.
1. Siting Guidelines (Scheduled to be finalized Fall 2011) – Guidance
to help school districts and community members in evaluating
environmental factors to make the best possible school
siting/location decisions
2. School Environmental Health Program Guidelines (Will post for
public comment late 2011 and finalized Summer 2012) – Guidance
to help states, tribes, and territories establish and sustain K-12
school environmental health programs to support school districts
and schools in creating healthy learning environments
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How You Can Help
All children deserve a safe and healthy environment in which to
learn and grow. AASA members can help by:
• Commenting on EPA’s School Environmental Health
guidelines during the public review and comment period (late
2011);
• Encouraging school districts to use the Siting Guidelines
when making school siting decisions
(http://www.epa.gov/schools/siting);
• Promoting the importance of environmental health in schools
(http://www.epa.gov/schools) ; and
• Encouraging schools to establish environmental health
programs to address student health issues and promote
academic achievement.
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EPA Contacts
Office of Children’s Health Protection
(http://www.epa.gov/schools/)
Margot Brown, ScD
Director, Program Implementation and Coordination Division
(202) 566-0874
[email protected]
Kara Belle
Public Liaison Specialist
(202) 564-3284
([email protected])
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References
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1
NCEF (National Clearinghouse for Education Facilities). Green Schools as High
Performance Learning Facilities. Washington D.C.: National Institute of Building
Sciences; 2010:16.
2
NRC (National Research Council). Green Schools: Attributes for Health and
Learning. Washington D.C.: The National Academies;2006.
3
Ohlund L, Ericsson, K. Elementary school achievement and absence due to
illness. Journal of Genetic Psychology. 1994;155:409-421.
4
Shaughnessy R, Haverinen-Shaughnessy, U., Nevalainen, A., Moschandreas, D.
A preliminary study on the association between ventilation rates in classrooms
and student performance. Indoor Air. 2006;16(6):465-468.
5
Sahakian N, Choe, K., White, S., Jones, R. NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation
Report: Hilton Head Elementary School, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 2003.
6
Scheel C, Rosing, W., Farone, A. Possible sources of sick building syndrome in
a Tennessee middle school. Archives of Environmental Health: An International
Journal. 2001;56(5):413-417.
References
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Thomas G, Clark Burton, N., Mueller, C., Page, E. Health Hazard Evaluation
Report: Comparison of Mold Exposures, Work-related Symptoms, and Visual
Contrast Sensitivity between Employees at a Severely Water-damaged School
and Employees at a School without Significant Water Damage, New Orleans,
LA. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 2010.
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U.S. EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). Indoor Air Quality Tools for
Schools Program: Benefits of Improving Air Quality in the School
Environment2003.
9
U.S. DOE (Department of Energy). Federal Energy Management Program
Operations and Maintenance Best Practices Guide, Release 3.0. In: Energy
OoEEaR, ed2010.
10
Velez and Broward County Grand Jury. Interim Report of the 2002 Fall Term
Grand Jury on School Board Construction2002.
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Wargocki, Pawel, and David P. Wyon. "The Effects of Moderately Raised
Classroom Temperatures and Classroom Ventilation Rate on the Performance of
Schoolwork by Children." HVAC&R Research 13(2), 2007: 193-220.