EPA Pushing Improved Air Quality in Schools

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: EPA PUSHING IMPROVED AIR QUALITY IN SCHOOLS

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: Date: 020430

: Wrom: VLMHAALPTCXLYRWTQTIPWI

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: By Joetta L. Sack, Education Week, May 1, 2002

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: Mesa, Ariz. The fake-stucco facade and the outline of Guerrero

: Elementary School here give away its beginnings as a chain grocery

: store. Today, it houses model programs to help educate the community's

: large populations of homeless and migrant children. But it's what

: can't be seen that has earned this rather unorthodox school accolades

: from a federal agency. Guerrero Elementary has been cited as a model

: for meeting new voluntary air-quality guidelines for schools that were

: set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this year.

:

: Poor air quality in school facilities is a growing problem that is

: usually overlooked, EPA officials say, but that can have serious

: ramifications for the health of students and teachers.

:

: What may be surprising is how many of the nation's schools the EPA

: deems to have poor indoor-air quality: nearly half.

:

: While pupils at Guerrero benefit from a state-of- the-art

: air-cleaning system, the air quality in many schools could be improved

: dramatically simply by replacing filters on heating and

: air-conditioning units on a regular basis.

:

: EPA Administrator Todd Whitman has made school air quality

: one of her priorities, and she recently visited several schools to

: publicize her agency's efforts. The EPA has released a guide for

: schools that points out common, easy- to-fix problems, and the agency

: took part in School Building Day on April 19, a symposium at the

: National Building Museum in Washington that featured innovative school

: facilities practices.

:

: Such attention could not come at a better time, some experts say.

:

: With rates of asthma and other respiratory problems among children

: reaching record highs, more facility planners are focusing on air

: quality as they design and renovate schools. But with the many aging

: and unmaintained buildings still in use, it's a daunting concern.

:

: " A lot of districts are ignoring the problem, " particularly the

: underfunded urban districts where problems are most likely to arise,

: said Molly E. , a vice president and architect with BPLW

: Architects and Engineers Inc., whose Mesa firm remodeled Guerrero

: Elementary School.

:

: Nationally, about one in 13 students has asthma, and between 8,000

: and 26,000 new cases of the potentially fatal condition are diagnosed

: in children each year.

:

: But other health complaints can be traced to indoor air as well-from

: common colds and headaches to nausea and dizziness.

:

: Common Irritants

:

: Estepp, a former supervisor of heating and cooling systems for

: the Mesa district, said such problems caught his district's attention

: several years ago, when he received e- mails from teachers describing

: overly lethargic students, and from school nurses reporting high rates

: of bloody noses and headaches. He investigated and concluded that the

: culprit was usually air-conditioning units that recirculated harmful

: air rather than pumping out clean air.

:

: Airborne pollutants such as mold, dust mites, residue from

: cockroaches, and other allergens can trigger the respiratory symptoms

: of asthma and other health problems, while chemicals in cleaners and

: pesticides can be respiratory irritants.

:

: " The worst problem is mold, " said Guarneiri, a marketing a

: public affairs specialist with the indoor-environments division of the

: EPA. " And most schools have mold, everywhere from Alaska to Florida. "

:

: Mold can seep into buildings through rather routine and unnoticeable

: ways, and it is hard to detect. For instance, many schools have leaky

: roofs, a situation that leads to moisture, which in turn can lead to

: mold, Ms. noted.

:

: She recently visited a school that was using sprinklers to water its

: lawn. She followed the water and found that the sprinklers had

: splashed the sides of the building and created mold on the inside of

: the walls.

:

: Moreover, the energy-efficiency goals of the 1970s hurt many school

: buildings' air quality, Ms. added. By lowering ceiling heights

: and sealing off windows, energy-conscious administrators may have

: inadvertently closed off or limited their buildings' air circulation.

:

: And the EPA says that some of the most common maintenance supplies-

: such as caulk, cleaners, paints, and adhesives-can emit high levels of

: harmful chemicals. Even using such supplies with low emissions can

: cause damage if they are used often enough.

:

: Mesa's Approach

:

: So what's a school facilities supervisor to do?

:

: Over the past few years, Arizona's 73,000-student Mesa district has

: been documenting illnesses and been studying the air quality in

: classrooms by measuring carbon monoxide, temperature, and humidity.

: Many classrooms showed high levels of carbon monoxide because of a

: lack of fresh air.

:

: District officials knew that replacing the mechanical systems in each

: building to address the problems was out of the question. It would

: simply be too costly, they said.

:

: " We had a lot of equipment, and it was impossible to change it, so we

: had to retrofit, " said , the district's operations

: manager.

:

: Mr. Estepp decided to retrofit most of the district's schools with

: air-filtration systems-steel boxes that are attached to

: air-conditioning units and through which clean air is circulated

: throughout a classroom. In particular, Mr. Estepp was concerned about

: the air quality in the district's many portable classrooms, most of

: which were old, with inadequate heating and cooling systems.

:

: Finding most of the models he studied to be too expensive or not

: powerful enough, he invented his own. (His product was so successful

: he later resigned from the district to start his own company and

: market the product.)

:

: About 50 to 60 of the air-filtration devices have been installed in

: Mesa schools, Mr. said. The district wants to install several

: hundred more in coming years, costing about $200,000 to $300,000

: total. Meanwhile, Guerrero Elementary, because it is so new, was one

: of the first buildings to have a comprehensive clean-air system that

: is now standard in newer Mesa schools. The school is also a model

: because it follows all the EPA's guidelines for using and storing

: chemicals.

:

: While the air filters carry a hefty price tag, top district officials

: were supportive, Mr. said, especially because lawsuits

: related to so-called sick buildings have become more common. " There's

: a heightened awareness right now, " he said.

:

: In this desert climate, keeping school facilities cool for most of

: the year is the biggest concern and can outweigh the steps needed to

: keep that air clean. But there are many ways, other than air

: conditioning, to help cool buildings, Ms. of the architecture

: firm said.

:

: She believes architects should use more " passive devices " -such as

: awnings and thicker walls-and more trees to help cool buildings. Then

: again, that's not always easy, given districts' limited budgets and

: great needs in facilities, Ms. acknowledged.

:

: " Architects are trying to do all that and still meet the budget, " she

: said, " and it's really tough. "

:

: Preventive Maintenance

:

: Barbara C. Worth, an assistant director of the Council of Education

: Facility Planners International, based in sdale, Ariz., said the

: subject of indoor-air quality has piqued the interest of many of the

: group's members. The council is collaborating with the EPA on the

: issue.

:

: The group has co-hosted conferences with the federal agency and is

: working to publicize the need for clean air in schools. In February,

: the council endorsed the EPA guidelines.

:

: The EPA has come under fire from business groups in the past for what

: many companies see as overregulation and overstatement of

: environmental problems. So far, though, school officials have not

: seemed to question the EPA'S concerns, Ms. Worth said, because the

: problems seem so big and the incidences of asthma keep rising.

:

: Air quality in schools also was a focus during the Clinton

: administration. The EPA released an indoor- air-quality kit for

: schools in 1996, and it has updated it regularly. The kit includes a

: booklet of guidelines and research, and contains lists for

: administrators to check as they inspect their facilities.

:

: This August, the EPA plans to host a three-day symposium in

: Washington to discuss such interrelated topics as school design,

: renovation financing, mold, asthma, and student achievement.

:

: Many experts agree, however, that the key to better air quality in

: schools is preventive maintenance. Steve Page, the director of the

: EPA's office of radiation and indoor air, said some schools haven't

: changed filters in their air-conditioning and heating units for years.

:

: Mr. Page, who spoke at the annual School Building Day conference,

: also said a big problem is school buses that idle near windows or

: heating, ventilating, and air- conditioning units, thus carrying

: harmful fumes throughout the school.

:

: The federal environmental agency, he said, hopes more schools will

: take preventive steps to head off problems and will become more aware

: of ways to cut down on risks to their air quality.

:

: " It's a message we need to get out-what we're talking about here is

: more than just a healthy building, " Mr. Page said. " It's helping

: teachers and students reach their full potential. "

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: © 2002 Editorial Projects in Education