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Illinois School Board Journal
March/April 2007

Improving the air for health, learning
by William H. Phillips

William H. Phillips is an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Illinois-Springfield and a board member for the Healthy Schools Campaign

As a former school superintendent, I know numerous factors influence children's ability to learn. Students cannot learn when they are hungry, feel threatened or have difficulty breathing.

Asthma is now the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting more than 227,000 school-age children in Illinois. It contributes to absenteeism, which can negatively impact academic performance. While I was a superintendent, we had an opportunity to improve the school environment and make it a better place to learn and work — without busting the budget.

Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools can lead to any number of short-term or long-term health problems for both students and staff. Students tend to be more susceptible to the risks of poor IAQ because their bodies are still developing, and they have relatively higher rates of breathing and metabolism.

IAQ is becoming increasingly costly for schools due to the potential for expensive investigations, higher heating and cooling costs, and increased liability. More importantly, high rates of absenteeism due to asthma or other ailments are costly to the learning environment. High absenteeism can be disruptive to classrooms and ultimately undermines the school's mission of educating children.

However, these problems are not insurmountable. Many resources can provide practical and economical solutions to IAQ problems. In order to improve air quality in schools, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit.

This kit helps school personnel identify, solve and prevent indoor air quality problems in the school environment. Through a multi-step management plan and checklists for the entire building, schools can lower the risk of student exposure to asthma triggers (especially animals and mold) and other environmental hazards. The kit covers the building's ventilation system, maintenance procedures, classrooms and food service areas.

Many schools have coordinating teams to implement the IAQ Tools for Schools. Because air quality problems can originate anywhere in the school building, the entire staff is typically informed and brought into the process, and students can be involved, too, in curricular areas. Further information about IAQ curricula can be found on the EPA's Web site (www.epa.gov/iaq/schools).

An additional resource is the Healthy Schools Campaign Action and Resource Guide for Healthy Schools, published by the Healthy Schools Campaign. This comprehensive handbook, available free at http://healthyschoolscampaign.org/action/resource_guide/, will provide school personnel with information to make their schools healthier places to learn and work.

Specifically, it covers:

1) -common issues affecting children's environmental health and learning;

2) -adult occupational health at school;

3) -environmental, health and safety laws and regulations; and

4) -resources specific to Illinois.

The guide also contains recommendations and organizing information to help administrators work with staff, parents and other members of the community to improve school environmental health. For more information, contact info@healthyschoolscampaign.org or visit www.healthyschoolscampaign.org.

The only regulatory requirements for environmental issues facing schools when I was a superintendent were for asbestos. While schools have been dealing with the asbestos issues, other environmental issues have arisen. Indoor air quality, lead in water, radon and mold all affect the health of the school's students and staff.

After research, I found no state requirements for inspection or correction of these environmental problems.

I chose a proactive stance by implementing a plan to determine if our school facilities were facing any of the myriad of environmental hazards.

When I discuss indoor air quality, one of the concerns I hear is: "What about the cost?" Whether from concern about direct expenses related to the purchase of equipment or indirect expenses involving staff time, allocating time and effort for a new project means shifting resources.

While the costs associated with these programs are minimal, in an era of tight budgets and restricted school funding, it becomes important to recognize creative ways to tap into alternative sources of revenue to improve the indoor environment.

Our IAQ program was innovative and not expensive to implement. Additionally, ways to finance air quality programs can be found within the requirements of a Risk Management Plan and the Tort Immunity Levy, which is accessible for all Illinois school districts.

Illinois statutes on requirements for a Risk Management Plans state: "School districts may include as allowable expenditures from the tort immunity levy the cost of risk-management (loss-prevention) programs. Risk management refers to planning and purchasing specialized prevention measures. It includes identifying, measuring and implementing processes for dealing with potential losses of property and injury to persons and their property."

Other legislative initiatives reflect the interest of the General Assembly in the issue of environmental protection for public schools in Illinois. While the state legislature may have continued interest in improving school indoor environments, it's valuable for districts to recognize the importance of indoor air quality planning and the value of prevention.

A combination of low cost prevention, with options of financing through programs such as the tort immunity levy, should make indoor air quality programs an important part of regular school operations.