Sherry Everett Jones, Nancy D. Brener, and Tim McManus, 2003. The physical environment in schools is receiving increased national attention. Several federal efforts to improve school environments have been implemented during the past 5 years. In 1997, President Clinton created the Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children. On April 18, 2003, President Bush signed an executive order to extend the work of the task force through 2005. Cochaired by the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the task force is charged with identifying and developing federal strategies to protect children from environmental health threats.
In October 2001, the task force created a Schools Workgroup to explore ways for federal departments and agencies to expand cooperation to improve school environmental health. The Schools Workgroup’s goals are to improve children’s health and school performance by making existing and new schools healthier places to learn, and to ease the burden on underfunded and overextended school districts and schools by improving coordination and collaboration among federal, state, and local programs.
