Green Schools, Healthy Kids

[Guest guest]

Question: How do you punish physician organizations that have systematically

worked with industry under the Bush administration to deny that moldy

buildings cause serious illness in injured workers?

Answer: You give them $10 million dollars through a stimulus package under

the Obama administration and put them in charge of overseeing the treatment of

US children made ill from mold.

This is awful. Do President Elect Obama or Senator Dashcle realize what

they are doing with their stimulus bill meant to help children who are being

made ill from mold in the schools?

I have a feeling the building science people have lobbied for cleaning up

the buildings, and the occ-med doctors have been able to tag along for the $$

ride.

These are the EXACT same physician organizations that have caused much harm

to the mold injured. These are the EXACT same orgs that need to be called on

the carpet for their role in furthering the deceit over the " not plausible "

mantra of mold issue. Those that influence what they do is too closely tied

with the insurance industry. These physicians wouldn't know how to properly

treat mold induced illnesses if you paid them. (pun intended). They are the

EXACT physicians that keep us behind the rest of the world in treatment

protocols for mycotic diseases. They are allergists and workers comp doctors.

These illnesses are, by and large, NOT allergy. The proper treatment of these

illnesses in children should have zero to do with the concerns of workers comp

insurers and employers.

How can this possibly be happening? What can be done to correct this?

" -ACTION OPPORTUNITY-

COALITION FOR HEALTHIER SCHOOLS

… providing the platform and the forum for school environmental health …

GOOD NEWS- the Obama-Biden team is working hard with Congress to create an

ECONOMIC RECOVERY PACKAGE of federal funding to create 2.5-3 million jobs in

“

shovel-ready†infrastructure projects.

BETTER NEWS—this includes school buildings.

ACTION OPPORTUNITY- we need to make sure that scarce funds are spent

effectively and that kids’ health is a priority along with energy efficiency.

Over the Holiday break, we are asking colleagues and supporters in CAL and

MA to make crucial calls:

* CAL-

* call Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CAL, to chair House Energy

Committee),

* call Congressman (D-CAL, chairs House Education

Committee),

* call Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CAL, chairs Senate Environment

Committee)

* MA-

* call Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA, chairs Senate Education Committee)

MESSAGE- make sure the planned “2009 Economic Recovery Package†directs

funds at creating healthy school environments.

US EPA must be empowered through appropriations to be a strong partner with

the Education Department which is to manage billions in federal school

construction dollars.

T o contact your elected official—

House- _http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml_

(http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml)

Senate- _http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm_

(http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm)

Talking point details

Economic Recovery: Restoring School Infrastructure with Green Jobs

What we need: Healthy Children-Healthy Schools-Green Jobs

The national Coalition, with organizational and activist members in all the

states, strongly supports the new Administration’s call to fix school

infrastructure: there are more schools than zips codes and they are the daily

workplaces of 20% of America, including the nation’s 54 million K-12 children.

Thus, as the economic picture grows bleaker, we must make sure every dime is

spent effectively.

As currently contemplated, billions will be sent to the US Department of

Education, which has no staff expertise on either facilities or children’s

environmental health, to redistribute to states. About ¼ of states have no

staffed

school facilities office, and an overlapping ¼ do not offer state funds for

school construction. Other reports reveal that state and local education

officials have little knowledge of laws or best practices for facilities

(CDC-SHPPS 2006; Environmental Law Institute; Ibata), while a robust and

growing body

of evidence shows that healthy school environments actually improve

attendance, achievement, and productivity, and substantially reduce operating

costs

and risks, as well as absenteeism due to asthma and chronic upper respiratory

illnesses (National Research Council, 2006; Kats, 2006; others).

Two federal laws authorize the US Department of Education (HHPS/NCLB) and US

EPA (HPGB/Energy Act of 2007) to develop desperately needed federal

guidelines on school design, school siting, assessments of facilities, and to

move

EPA best practices for healthy indoor environments into the states with federal

grants. These authorizations can now be used to build a critical national

capacity to modernize and maintain schools as healthy places for all children,

especially those at highest risk of failure—children in deep poverty and/or

with health, learning or behavior problems.

Consistent with the national Coalition for Healthier Schools Position

Statement, and federal laws authorizing Education and US EPA grants to the

states,

we urge the following improvements to HR 7110 (the House of Representatives’

Economic Stimulus Bill that passed 9/26/08 authorizing funds to rebuild

roads, bridges, schools, etc. At least 25% of the $3 billion for modernizing

schools in that bill would be spent using high performance/green design

standards.):

Build Federal and State Agency Capacities; Launch Workforce Training

1. Require the federal education agency to add qualified staff trained

in Indoor Air/ Environmental Quality and/or EPA’s Healthy SEAT (School

Environmental Assessment Tool) who can assist in directing federal funds

2. Empower US EPA with new resources to address school environments

with national outreach and workforce trainings

· $6 million annually to coordinate its 14+ school voluntary

best-practices programs within the cross-agency Office of Children’s Health

Protection in the Office of the Administrator and to fund a national grant

program

targeting workforce training and community education on healthy school

environments. Five percent for two years ($600,000) should be allocated to the

EPA-CDC funded pediatric environmental health specialty program to commission

the

creation of regional or state-specific desk-top references on school

environmental health.

· $10 million over five years to create new federal guidelines for

school siting and define school environmental health programs, as authorized

in HPGB/Energy Act of 2007and to make grants to states to advance healthy

school environments programs.

3. The Education Department, advised by EPA and Energy, needs $25 million

over five years to create a state grant program to develop and disseminate

Healthy High Performance School design standards appropriate to local schools.

One design standard or ventilation standard does not fit all; standards must

be customized by states to climate zones or regions.

Getting Results for Healthy Children, Healthy Schools

1. Require states to ensure that children and other school occupants are

protected from highly hazardous demolition and renovation work on occupied

schools: require a public meeting in advance to present how occupant health

will be protected and contract with the state public health agency to resolve

and report complaints.

2. Child-safe renovation and abatement procedures must be followed for

lead, asbestos, PCBs, molds and other identified hazards. Children should

not be compelled to attend schools filled with contaminated dusts.

3. Require states to have integrated energy and IAQ/IEQ audit

procedures in place. Energy efficiency alone does not create improvements in

attendance or learning, but integrated with indoor environmental quality audits

on

issues such as indoor air and acoustics, these audits will drive major benefits

for occupants and also reduce operating costs.

4. Within one year, state and local education agency elected and

appointed leaders must be required to have participated in EPA-sponsored

educational sessions that include: one hour on pediatric environmental health

topics,

one hour on the impacts of facilities on health and learning, and one hour on

Indoor Air/Environmental Quality. Core presentations should be archived on

EPA and Education websites for the public and for school communities. There is

little or no knowledge among education leaders on these topics, yet the

information is essential to preventing risks to child and adult health and to

promoting attendance, achievement, and productivity. Community information

will

build support for needed renovation projects.

5. Require the states to post user-friendly lists of the individual

modernization projects, including what major building needs are being

addressed.

6. Require districts and states to report on how the use of federal

funds impacted their high-needs populations, including children with asthma,

learning or developmental disabilities, or chronic health conditions, as well

as

how repairs impacted attendance, achievement, and productivity overall.

7. School modernizations should encourage the use of third-party

certified Environmentally Preferable products such as paints and finishes that

do

not harm health or the environment.

8. Cost-effective flooring should be defined to mean durable, easy to

maintain, and cost-effective for the life of a capital asset, typically at leas

t 15 years. The current HR 7110 bill text seems to encourage the

installation of recycled carpeting in schools. Schools have neither the

staffing nor

the equipment to maintain carpets; carpets are reservoirs of fumes, dust,

particulates, and spill residues.

9. Allow a portion of federal funds to assess for and report on the

presence of safe, usable playgrounds at all elementary schools.

Two federal laws:

HHPS/NCLB: Healthy High Performance Schools Act of 2001, signed into No

Child Left Behind (2002), authorizes an appropriation of $25 million to the US

Department of Education, advised by EPA and Energy, to create a federal-state

grant program help states develop and disseminate information and assistance

on high performance school design to local schools.

HPGB/Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007: High Performance Green

Buildings Act of 2007 and its Healthy High Performance Schools sections, create

a federal office of green buildings with an advisory committee, as well as

give EPA new authority and funds ($10 million) to: 1) create first-ever school

siting guidelines, 2) define school environmental health program and give

grants to the states, and 3) as advised by CDC, develop new guidelines on how

the federally supported pediatric environmental health specialty units can

help states with school onsite investigations.

Coalition for Healthier Schools: visit _www.healthyschools.org_

(http://www.healthyschools.org/) > coalition to see Policy, Supporters,

Conference

Agendas, Act

L. Barnett, Executive Director

Healthy Schools Network, Inc.

518-462-0632

Coordinator, Coalition for Healthier Schools

202-543-7555

_www.healthyschools.org_ (http://www.healthyschools.org/) "

Sharon Noonan Kramer

**************Stay up-to-date on the latest news - from fashion trends to

celebrity break-ups and everything in between.

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[Guest guest]

Green Schools, Healthy Kids

AFL-CIO - Washington,DC,USA

by Parks, Jan 2, 2009

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/01/02/green-schools-healthy-kids/

With Congress set to begin a new session this week, the AFT is

putting the state of America's school buildings on the agenda. As

part of its two-year " Building Minds, Minding Buildings " campaign,

the union recently released two new reports, one on " green " school

buildings and the other on funding infrastructure projects.

The reports reinforce President-elect Barack Obama's call to improve

the physical and technological infrastructure of U.S. schools as

part of a stimulus plan to jump-start the economy.

Says AFT President Randi Weingarten:

Our members across the country always have been actively involved in

finding solutions and bringing attention to the issue of school

infrastructure. These latest reports will provide them with some of

the insights and information they need to continue their efforts.

The first report, Building Minds, Minding Buildings: Our Union's

Road Map to Green and Sustainable Schools, is a guide to building

and maintaining schools in ways that are healthy, environmentally

responsible and cost-efficient. The guide explains that creating

green schools can improve the health and learning of teachers, staff

and students and help fight global warming.

U.S. Government Accountability Office studies show that some 15,000

schools in the United States suffer from indoor air that is unfit to

breathe. In addition to greenhouse gas emissions, conventional

building materials and furnishings release toxic chemicals, volatile

organic compounds, such as formaldehyde, and other substances to the

air inside the school.

Mold spores, common in deteriorating schools with leaky roofs, along

with other biological organisms add to this polluted mix, triggering

allergies, and are suspected of increasing new cases of respiratory

diseases, particularly asthma, which is the most common chronic

illness among children under age 15. Asthma also is the leading

cause of student absenteeism in schools, accounting for more than 14

million missed school days each year, according to the AFT.

Through both conservation and reliance on renewable energy sources,

a green school can reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly.

Higher ventilation rates in green schools dilute the concentration

of indoor pollutants, as well as control humidity and temperature,

which results in less mold and reduces the spread of viruses.

The second report, School Infrastructure Funding Need: A State-by-

State Assessment and an Analysis of Recent Court Cases, tracks the

current level of school infrastructure funding in all 50 states. The

report shows that total school infrastructure funding need is

substantial, totaling some $254.6 billion. It also makes policy

recommendations to address funding needs at the federal and state

levels, calling for, among other things, a new federal/state and

local partnership to fund school infrastructure projects and

immediate federal actions to address infrastructure inadequacies in

schools attended by low-income students.

Click here to download the reports.

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