Healthy School Program

History

Goals

Background

Getting Started

Project Background

Good air quality contributes to a favorable learning environment for students, productivity for teachers and staff, and a sense of comfort, health, and well-being for all school occupants. These combine to assist a school in its core mission: educating children.

Poor air quality is a particular concern in schools. Children, teachers and staff spend an enormous amount of their waking hours at school. Children especially are a vulnerable population due to their small size and special physiology, and therefore, it is important that schools be as environmentally safe as possible.

Unfortunately, schools are unlike other buildings:

Occupants are close together, with the typical school having approximately four times as many occupants as an office building for the same amount of floor space.

Budgets are tight, with maintenance often receiving the largest cut during budget reductions.

The presence of a variety of pollutant sources, including cleaning supplies, art and science supplies, industrial and vocational art supplies and activities, home economics supplies , and products used in gyms and on outdoor playing fields.

A large number of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, place an added strain on maintenance staff.

As schools add space, the operation and maintenance of each addition is often different.