NEWS RELEASE
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press contacts:
Gail D. Shore (952)
925-6102
Teresa
McFarland (952) 440-6084
MANY SCHOOL FACILITIES IN
DIRE STRAIGHTS
SICK SCHOOLS CAN MEAN SICK
KIDS
Check List Helps Parents and
School Officials
Watch for Signs of Poor Indoor Air
Quality
ST.
PAUL, Minn. (March 2002) -- Here are the facts: More than half of the nation’s schools have
environmental deficiencies that adversely affect indoor air quality. Poor indoor air quality causes illness and
can greatly diminish learning potential.
In the 1980s, the number of children with asthma increased 60
percent. Asthma is the number one cause
of absenteeism in schools.
While
these statistics are alarming, few schools in the country are adequately addressing
the problem of indoor air quality (IAQ).
“We
cram many more students into a classroom than we do adults in offices, and we
expect them to learn huge amounts of information every day,” said John B.
Lyons, author of Do School Facilities Really Impact a Child’s Education. “Adults working in these types of
environments would probably sue their employer, but kids don’t recognize signs
of bad indoor air quality and are really dependent on their teachers and school
administrators to take action. Compounding
the problem is that these issues are so complex, that school districts often
don’t have the expertise internally to really make all the right decisions
about improving their facilities.”
For years, studies have reported that poor IAQ can cause illnesses, forcing some kids to
miss school. According to the American
Lung Association more than ten million school days are missed each year due to
asthma alone. (Now, data suggests that
poor IAQ can reduce a person’s ability to perform specific mental tasks
requiring concentration, calculation, or memory.
How has this happened and how bad is the problem? And what is being done to protect our
children and to provide a safe learning environment?
SchoolFacilities.com, a portal dedicated to school facilities
management, says the average school in America is 42 years old, a time when
most buildings start deteriorating rapidly.
In addition to their age, these buildings contain mold and mildew, lack
fresh air, and contain aging mechanical
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systems
that further challenge students with noise, glare and hot or cold temperatures.
“Poor IAQ causes drowsiness, inability to concentrate and
lethargy,” said Matt Banes, president
of SchoolFacilities.com. The result
reduces attentiveness and compromises learning.” Today, according to the
National Education Association (NEA) Research, the number of students in the
country has dramatically increased from 25 million in 1950 to more than 47
million today. Classrooms are crowded and the building designs are outdated,
with poor communications systems, limited technology and inadequate
security.
“Parents don’t have the time nor the expertise to evaluate
the physical conditions of their children’s schools, yet many of these of these facilities report unsatisfactory
environmental conditions with increasing evidence that these problems have a
negative impact on a child’s ability to learn,” said Banes.
One of the biggest health alerts in school today is asthma,
a chronic disease that accounts for a half million hospitalizations and 5,000
deaths a year. Asthma affects 29
million people -- 4.8 million of them are children -- and the cost of treating
the disease is a staggering $3.6 billion.
Numerous studies find that indoor irritants, long suspected of
influencing asthma rates in children, could be the key to asthma problems in
children.
According to Alan
Wozniak, president of Pure Air Control Services, a national indoor
environmental consulting firm, keeping a regular maintenance schedule of the
HVAC system can help reduce irritants that lead to IAQ problems.
“Our company has investigated thousands of buildings,
including hundreds of schools for environmental inefficiencies such as mold,
bacteria, endotoxins and dust mites, and we’ve found that in more than half the
cases, there was an increased amount of microbial degradation due to neglected
regular maintenance on routine housekeeping and HVAC systems,” Wozniak said.
In addition to neglecting a regular maintenance schedule,
poor air circulation and temperature control can also greatly influence a
facility’s IAQ.
“Some of the worst contributors to bad indoor air quality in
our schools are poor ventilation and lack of effective humidity control,” said
Gary Luepke, principal systems engineer for Trane,
the nation’s largest provider of commercial and
industrial air conditioning systems,
energy management and building controls. “We’ve all
been in a meeting in a room that was crowded, too warm and felt drowsy, that
situation exists in many schools and classrooms daily but it’s not just
uncomfortable, it’s causing illness.”
It is clear
that the problem is attracting more attention.
A two-year study entitled the Health,
Environmental and Productivity Study is currently being conducted in
Montgomery
County, MD, under the direction of the HP Woods Research
Institute.
“This study has already measured the
interrelationship between air quality, acoustics and
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lighting, and has found how these levels are exceeding recommended
and even safe
standards,” said Lyons, “Most parents and school board members are
simply not aware of the many pit falls that impact student learning. It’s a
complicated and very serious issue and school districts really need to find the
time and the resources to dedicate to fixing the problem sooner rather than
later.”
PARENT CHECK
LIST FOR SIGNS OF POOR INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN CHILD’S SCHOOL
1.
Is your child coughing and sneezing more?
2.
Is your child experiencing increased allergies?
3.
Is your child experiencing increased upper respiratory problems?
4.
Does your child feel better during the weekend away from school?
WHAT CAN
SCHOOL OFFICIALS DO:
- Maintain an accurate school
absenteeism and asthma log record.
- Maintain a regular maintenance
schedule for the HVAC systems.
3. Watch for stained ceiling tiles that may
indicate roof leaks, which may mean mold.
- Watch for vents that may be
blocked which decreases ventilation and affects indoor
air
quality.
5.
Space heaters under teachers’ desks could point to an ineffective
comfort control system.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES -
INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN SCHOOLS:
Matt Banes,
president, SchoolFacilities.com
Matt@schoolfacilities.com;
714-279-7933 - office; (714) 402-7585 - cell
www.schoolfacilities.com
Alan Wozniak,
IAQ expert and president of Pure Air Control Systems
(800) 422-7873 x802;
awozniak@pureaircontrols.com
www.pureairconrols.com
John B. Lyons, IAQ expert and author of "Do School Facilities Really
Impact a Child's Education?”
jl1090@worldnet.att.net
Gary Luepke,
principal systems engineer for Trane,
(608) 787-3366; 651-271-9143 - cell;
gluepke@trane.com
www.trane.com
HELPFUL LINKS
TO FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ASTHMA:
www.epa.gov/iaq/ia-intro.html
www.epa.gov/iaq/asthsma/index.html
www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/index.html
Data were provided by the EPA Indoor
Environments Division, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air; by SchoolFacilities.com, a resource site and a gateway (portal) providing school facility
personnel the opportunity to access a wide variety of information and resources
unique to the needs of facilities; and by Pure Air Controls Services, an
indoor environmental consulting service.
