SIGN UP | SEARCH | DONATE  
    • Overview
    • What Is A Green School?
    • Why Green Schools?
    • How Do I Green My School?
    • Green Schools Profiles
    • Environmental Inspiration Stories
    • Green Star Schools Program
    • BUSD Green Star Schools
    • Issues Overview
    • Read the Report
    • Toxics Free
    • Sustainability
    • Gardens and Food
    • Teach Green
    • Take Action
    • Pledge
    • Action Alerts
    • CALENDAR: Events, Grants, Workshops, etc.
    • Green Your Events & Holidays
    • A Happy Green Halloween
    • Green Fundraising
    • Resources
    • Workshop Materials
    • Green Schools Buying Guide
    • The Green Cleaning Toolkit
    • Green Schools Parent Toolkit
    • Latest News
    • Press Releases
Issues
  • Issues Overview
  • Read the Report
  • Toxics Free
    • Free Your School from Plastic Waste with "Plastic Free Campuses"
    • Children's Exposure to Toxics: Costs and Solutions
    • Press Release: New Data Show Schools Ignore Children's Health
    • Healthy Kids Need Safe Foods
    • EPA Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign
    • "This Vinyl School": Interactive Tool to Rid Schools of PVC
    • Cleaning for Asthma Safe Schools (CLASS): The Green Cleaning Toolkit
    • EPA Offers First-Ever School Siting Guidelines
    • Indoor Air Quality: Strategies for Maintaining Healthy Learning Environments
    • If You Can't Breathe, You Can't Learn! Cleaning for Healthy Schools
    • The Green Seal Standard
    • Use Safer Disinfectants and Disinfecting Practices
    • School Custodians Choose Clean and Green
    • Toxins and Brain Damage in Children
    • Can We Get Toxic Metals Out of Children's Products?
    • Toxic Toys
    • Toxic Air at School
    • Artificial Turf: The Dangerous Downside
    • Manteca Schools Make the Switch to Green Cleaners
    • National Healthy Schools Day Helps Clear the Air - And You Can, Too!
    • Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Selects Green Cleaning Chemicals
    • States Rack Up Green Cleaning Successes
    • EWG’s Online Guide to Healthy Cleaning
    • Health Effects of Cell Phones and Cell Phone Towers: Ongoing Debate and Common Sense Precautions
    • NEW! California Resources for Reducing Asthma in Schools
    • CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta Spotlights Toxic Air in Schools
  • Sustainability
  • Gardens and Food
  • Teach Green
view profiles
Take the Quiz
Make a Difference
Find Green Products
Teach Green
Home   »  Issues  »  Toxics Free

Press Release: New Data Show Schools Ignore Children's Health

Survey Results Ring Loud Alarms

Contacts:  
Amy Garcia, RN, NASN, 240-821-1130
Claire Barnett, Healthy Schools Network, 518-462-0632


NEW DATA SHOW SCHOOLS IGNORE CHILDREN’S HEALTH:
GROUPS URGE ACTION BY EPA AND STATES

EARLY SURVEY RESULTS RING LOUD ALARMS

(Silver Spring, MD, January 11, 2011)  Advocates today released early results of a nationwide survey of school nurses and urged the EPA to complete congressionally mandated environmental health guidelines for the states to help address school conditions. Reponses to the nationwide survey indicate over 40% of more than 350 respondents say that they know children and staff adversely impacted by avoidable indoor pollutants and that virtually no agencies assist local schools.   

The 2010 school nurse survey data challenge EPA’s and other agencies’ assumptions about how effectively states and local schools are managing IAQ and other K-12 environmental issues. EPA has estimated based on a 2006 Center for Disease Control survey that half of K-12 schools have Indoor Air
Quality Management Plans. The nurses’ survey indicates that perhaps only one-quarter do. 

“Parents and taxpayers should be enraged,” says NASN Executive Director Amy Garcia, RN. “Children continue to miss school because of illnesses triggered by indoor air pollutants. Attendance is strongly correlated with school success and graduation. School nurses call on school boards and administrators to develop indoor air quality teams to assist schools with guidance, and the Environmental Protection Agency to complete work on school environments mandated by Congress.” 

Over 350 school nurses responded to the 2010 survey. The survey touched on many of the problems raised in the SICK SCHOOLS 2009 report and issues EPA is mandated to tackle, such as drinking water quality, pest control, and chemical spills.    
  • 40% know children and staff adversely affected by pollutants in schools;
  • Only 17% say schools have cleaned up asthma-triggers as requested by parents: pests, molds, indoor air quality, sanitation 
  • Over 75% say schools have no indoor air quality team or coordinator;
  • Only 6% say an outside agency helped their school with environmental issues;
  • Nurse respondent quotes on discussing environment with school leaders: “Told I was a negative person for asking," “Not encouraged to do so,” “No time.”
Healthy Schools Network Executive Director Claire Barnett warns, “Parents are stunned when they discover schools have known about environmental factors affecting their child and have done little or nothing. Then they learn that no agency responds either. Every effort should be made to intervene when
children are in harm’s way.”

For EPA links on how school environmental conditions impact children, see
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/student_performance/evidence.html

For EPA data on how healthy environments can increase children’s attendance and achievement, see http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/student_performance/faq4.html

About Us | Green Schools | Issues | Take Action | Resources | News
Green Schools Initiative
Site Map | Privacy Policy