Healthy Schools Network hosted the second national virtual summit "COVID, Climate, Children & Schools: Focus on Climate" in April 2022. Over two afternoons, the summit elevated key issues of environment, health, and education justice that have come into sharper focus during the COVID and climate crises. Nearly three hundred people…

Climate change and the pandemic have brought new attention to the dire conditions of the nation's schools and schools' lack of preparedness for both, especially to the terrible state of ventilation and indoor air quality. There are renewed calls at all levels for clean air and water, better ventilation and sanitation, and improved oversight of the…

Schools are an environment conducive to the spread of COVID-19. They are densely occupied for long periods. In fact, schools are where children spend the most time, other than home--often 30-40 hours per week. Like adults, children may shed and transmit the coronavirus, yet show no symptoms. Except for masks, there is no personal protection…

The purpose of the National Conference was for attendees to: (1) Review research and policy recommendations and goals identified at the November 2015 "Environmental Health at School: Ignored Too Long" panel and facilitated workshop; (2) Hear about risks and exposures at schools and their impact on children; (3) Understand the Centers for…

"Towards Healthy Schools: Reducing Risks to Children" is the fourth in a series of triennial state of the states' reports from Healthy Schools Network and its partners in the Coalition for Healthier Schools, dating from 2006. Previous reports assessed state-by-state environmental health hazards at schools, offered compelling personal…

Air pollution is air pollution, indoors or out. Good indoor air quality (IAQ) contributes to a favorable learning environment for students, protects health, and supports the productivity of school personnel. In schools in poor repair, leaky roofs and crumbling walls have caused additional indoor air quality problems, including contamination with…

Everybody knows that healthy school buildings contribute to student learning, reduce health and operating costs, and ultimately, increase school quality and competitiveness. However, 55 million of the nation's children attend public and private K-12 schools where poor air quality, hazardous chemicals and other unhealthy conditions make students…

Each day over 53 million school children and 6 million adults--20 percent of the entire U.S. population--enter the nation's 120,000 school buildings to teach and learn. Unfortunately, in too many cases, they enter "unhealthy" school buildings," that undermine learning and health. In a recent five-state survey, more than 1,100 public schools were…

Each school day, 55 million children and 7 million adults--that's 20% of the total U.S. population and 98% of all children--spend their workdays inside school buildings. Unfortunately, too many of the nation's 125,000 public and private K-12 schools are "unhealthy" buildings that can harm their health and hinder learning. Today, clear…

This paper presents a transcript of the speech delivered by the author at the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Hearing, Washington, DC, May 15, 2007. The author talked about how the Healthy Schools Network works to ensure that every child will have an environmentally healthy school that is clean and in good repair. The organization…

Students who attend schools with environmental hazards that impact indoor air quality are more likely to miss class, and therefore lose learning opportunities. Yet school environmental health and safety remains largely unregulated and there is no state or federal agency in charge of protecting children's environmental health in schools. This…

This report makes the case that no one is in charge of protecting children from harmful environmental exposures at school and recommends steps at the federal and in New York State to begin to address this hidden world. With information gleaned from adult occupational health experts, from new national studies and reports, and from the reports of…