Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), 2003. Earthquakes are a serious threat to school safety and pose a significant potential liability to school officials and school districts. School buildings in 39 states are vulnerable to earthquake damage.
Tag: Environmental Issues
School Environmental Assessments
Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment's 12th annual conference on September 19, 2014. Presentation: School Environmental Assessments. Presented by Jerry Roseman, M.Sc.I.H. President OHCS, Inc.
School Environmental Health
Mid-Atlantic Center for Children’s Health and the Environment's 12th annual conference on September 19, 2014. Presentation: School Environmental Health. Presented by Maida Galvez, MD, MPH and Lauren Zajac, MD, MPH, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades
(EPA, 2014). This Guide is written primarily for school facility managers, energy managers, risk managers, building operators and school administrators to help them collaboratively manage the relationships between energy efficiency upgrade activities and indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools
Other helpful links from the EPA on integrating savings and health.
Do K-12 School Facilities Affect Educational Outcomes?
(Posted on October 9, 2014). Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. There is growing evidence of a correlation between the adequacy of a school facility and student behavior and performance. Almost all of the studies conducted over the past three decades, including two in Tennessee, have found a statistically significant relationship between the condition of a school, or classroom, and student achievement. In general, students attending school in newer, better facilities score five to seventeen points higher on standardized tests than those attending in substandard buildings.
The Interface Among Educational Outcomes and School Environment
Tanner, C. K. (2014). Linking measurements of the physical environment’s physiognomies to human behavior and productivity is a rather new task in the fields of education, and social and natural sciences. In education; for example, how can a schoolhouse and its surroundings be measured such that valid and reliable comparisons can be made among student outcomes? For example, how do school environments influence student behavior and other outcomes? How do we quantify specific features of the physical environment of the school? Obviously, we already accept the quantification of student testing and other measurable outcomes based on our continual dependence on standardized tests for making decisions. The article approaches this issue through rules of consistent measurement and mapping practices. Three common measurement scales, nominal, ordinal, and interval scales are compared. The nominal scale is shown to be of unequivocally no value in making quantitative comparisons, beyond classifying and categorizing assigned values. The ordinal and interval scales may be considered as vectors having magnitude and direction, while the nominal scale does not fit into correlations, regression, and prediction equations because the nominal classification cannot show direction or specify magnitude. Examples of the use of ordinal and interval scales are presented with respect to comparisons of student outcomes and measured environmental variables having magnitude and direction.
How to introduce the concept of blue cleaning to custodial staff.
Jill Nolan (2014). When Allen Rudd first told his staff at the Temple University Health Sciences Campus that they would abandon the chemicals they had long used and start cleaning with tap water, they didn’t exactly boil over with enthusiasm. Rudd, who is the director of custodial services, was instead met with the expected skepticism. (Posted on August 6, 2014).
Jill Nolin (2014). When Allen Rudd first told his staff at the Temple University Health Sciences Campus that they would abandon the chemicals they had long used and start cleaning with tap water, they didn’t exactly boil over with enthusiasm. Rudd, who is the director of custodial services, was instead met with the expected skepticism. (Posted on August 7, 2014).
Creating Healthy Indoor Environments in Schools
EPA Website, (2014). Promote a healthy learning environment at your school to reduce absenteeism, improve test scores and enhance student and staff productivity. This website provides a variety of guides to help schools maintain an appropriate Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). The list below is not exhaustive. (Posted on August 4, 2014).
Guides
IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit
The Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Approach: Providing a Framework for Success
Envisioning Excellence: IAQ Strategies in Action
Building Air Quality: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility Managers
EPA Information about Asbestos in School Building
Public and non-profit private schools have distinct regulatory requirements to protect school children and school employees from asbestos exposure. This page provides information on these requirements as well as resource materials for schools and parents. (Posted July 31, 2014).
Green cleaning for health, the planet and your budget
Nolin, J. (2014). Think green cleaning has to put you in the red? Not so, say proponents who argue that cleaning can be as friendly to a school budget as it is to the environment. (Posted on June 27, 2014).
Nolin, J. (2014). Think green cleaning has to put you in the red? Not so, say proponents who argue that cleaning can be as friendly to a school budget as it is to the environment. (Posted on June 27, 2014).
