Air Fair

The topic of air quality within our nation’s schools has become a national concern, making headlines recently after it was determined that asthma rates have risen dramatically-86 percent since 1980-and account for 10 million missed school days annually. Poor air quality jeopardizes student safety and ultimately affects the education they receive. To determine ways in which the school environment can be improved, we talk with Mary Smith, director, Indoor Environments Division at the EPA. Smith heads the national indoor air and radon program, which sets national policy on indoor air, and works with the other federal agencies, states, industries, and non-profits to implement good indoor air quality practices in a variety of environments. She has worked at the EPA since 1979 and has previously headed the fuels enforcement program and is responsible for implementing most of the clean fuels programs in place today.

Joe De Patta: Can you talk about work the EPA is doing on behalf of schools?

Mary Smith: Yes, we’re very interested in schools. Years ago we heard from people concerned about indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools and they were urging us to provide them with guidance. They wanted to know how to deal with these issues. That’s how we got into our “Tools for Schools” program. We wanted to do something holistic that allows clients to look at a school in its entirety, not just what they think the problem might be. If a district doesn’t have problems, they can use the program as a kind of maintenance plan to make sure they don’t develop IAQ problems and to make sure they’re doing the right things. They can say to parents, “We’re concerned about this issue and we have a plan in place.”

Also, we realize it’s not enough to just develop the document, we’re also trying to get people to use it. Our headquarters operation and each of our 10 regional offices are working with various groups who care about schools and we’re teaching them how to best use the kit.

JD: Lately, we’re hearing a lot about IAQ issues. Is the problem getting worse or are we just talking about it more frequently?

MS: I don’t know if the problem is getting worse, since we don’t have any accurate mechanism by which we can measure that. I do think it is getting more attention. As schools are aging, they may be developing more problems and, if a district has been deferring maintenance for a year or so, after a while it catches up with them. That may be one reason IAQ is getting more attention. Another reason is that there’s more press about air quality, more coverage of mold issues so people are more aware of them. Certainly there are increasing rates of asthma; it is at epidemic levels according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and certainly the school environment can affect a child’s asthma.

JD: How serious a problem does the EPA consider poor indoor air quality in schools?

MS: I mentioned that we don’t really have a way to measure that, but we consider it a very important issue. On average, we spend about 90 percent of our time indoors so we have to think about the school day as a big segment of a person’s life, whether you are a teacher, staff member, or student. Having a good environment in which to learn or teach is very important.

JD: What are some factors that lead to poor indoor air quality in a school facility?

MS: There can be myriad problems and that’s why it’s important to address them in a comprehensive way. They vary from school to school. In one facility, there might be a mold problem, in another they may have ventilation issues. One school may store their chemicals improperly and another could be incorrectly performing pest management. Poor indoor air quality can come from many sources.

JD: Can you describe the kinds of problems you are seeing as a result of poor indoor air quality?

MS: Health effects resulting from poor indoor air quality include, for instance, an asthmatic child’s condition getting worse if the school isn’t being properly maintained. That child may have more attacks than usual and spend more time at the nurse’s office and miss classroom instruction. Other effects can range from headaches to nausea to respiratory problems.

JD: Tell us about the “Tools for Schools” kit you mentioned earlier. How does the kit work? Is it a “one size fits all” program?”

MS: The kit encourages taking a holistic approach. The first thing one wants to do with the kit is to form an IAQ team and have the team walk through the school with various checklists and do a self-assessment. They will note factors in a specific room, and the school in general, that could be contributing to poor indoor air quality. They then put all the lists together and look at the problems and figure out how to address them. As a second step, after the problems are fixed, the team still needs to use the kit to develop a maintenance plan for the school to ensure that no more problems develop. Every year a school should perform an assessment and check ventilation systems, filters, etc., so the kit gives users two pieces; immediate assessment and subsequent indoor air quality maintenance.

JD: Do you find that most schools use the kit proactively or is it employed after a problem is identified?

MS: A lot of people, particularly in the early stages of the “Tools for Schools” program, used it in reaction to a problem they have. Many administrators talk about how it was very useful when they had a room full of angry parents worrying about their child’s health while in school. They took the kit, addressed the issues, figured out what was going on, and showed parents that they are taking a methodical approach to the problem.

On the other hand, we are targeting school districts to try to get them to use the program in a proactive way. More recently, in the last couple of years, we have been trying to get school districts to adopt the kit districtwide. For instance, in Montgomery County, Maryland, the district has adopted the kit in a methodical way and is going through each and every one of their schools and implementing the program.
We are seeing more of that proactive action now, but clearly, as we all do in our personal lives, we react to emergencies first.

JD: How long has the kit been available?

MS: It came out in late 1995. Initially we thought, in the first year or so, that people would say, “Hey, great kit, let’s do it.” That didn’t quite work. Even if you have a great idea, you have to make sure that people know about it and use it. After the first couple of years we started to work with organizations that could reach schools. It’s a slow, gradual climb to get districts to implement the kit, especially knowing that they have a lot of other things to deal with.

JD: How can the school receive the kit and to whom is the kit geared?

MS: I think as the kit emphasizes, this is a team effort. Teachers can’t get excited about it if they don’t have support from their administrators or from parents. We do offer a free kit to any school that wants it. Schools can obtain the kit by contacting the IAQ INFO Clearinghouse, P. O. Box 37133, Washington, D.C. 20013-7133. Interested parties can also call (800) 438-4318. Information can be reviewed online at: www.epa.gov/iaq/schools

JD: How much does the success of the program depend on the involvement of the superintendent, staff, and concerned parents?

MS: A lot. As I said before, this program requires a team of people. While it doesn’t necessarily depend on parents, it’s great to have parental support in a school district, but administrators, teachers, and maintenance staff can probably do it without the parents. It’s a good advertisement for the school that it’s doing something proactive and that they care about the issue and are willing to address it before any problems arise. It makes a school look good.

JD: In order to be successful, does a district have to follow the exact guidelines described in the “Tools for Schools” action kit?

MS: No, but they should be followed a substantial amount, however. I know one school district in Maryland that took the kit and modified it and made it more practical for their specific facility. Obviously, if you decide to skip everything about ventilation, that isn’t implementing the kit or anything close to it. Sure, modifications can be made to make it more practical and useful, but there certainly is a core that needs to get done to address IAQ.

JD: Is there a use for the program beyond the primary implementation and production of the management plan?

MS: Yes there is. The guidance we offer is not just for that first year when people are very concerned and doing the walk-through and putting a plan together. It’s about maintaining the school thereafter. That’s a big part of what the kit is about, too.

JD: How do you respond to administrators who say, “Why would we want to identify indoor air quality issues? If we do, then we’ll have to spend money we don’t have to fix the problems?”

MS: That is something we often hear: why would administrators want to imply there’s a problem in the school?

I think it’s all about how you look at it. Sure, you might have to spend some dollars now, but if you don’t fix the problems, you soon can have serious issues. We worked with a school in Washington, D.C., that spent a couple million dollars addressing problems where it was determined that, if they had only spent several hundred dollars a year, they would have avoided such an expenditure. That is a real practical example of ” Invest now or pay a whole lot later.”

It is sometimes a tough sell because school funds are tight and districts tend to worry about the “here and now” but I think this is a good management issue that indicates administrators need to look forward a bit more. They have an obligation to properly maintain the buildings. You have to provide the best environment for the children. The kit is really nothing more than how to properly maintain your building. It’s not rocket science. How do you prevent ventilation problems? Simple. Change your filters. We have looked into industrial ventilation systems from Integrated Air Systems to prevent further ventilation problems.

JD: How do schools determine whether or not they have indoor air problems that need to be addressed? Are problems frequently misdiagnosed?

MS: I think that sometimes people don’t know they have a problem and might miss things. Perhaps a teacher is getting headaches but doesn’t realize he or she is getting them because there’s a problem with the classroom. The kit is designed to go through a school, step by step, and identify IAQ issues. If a child is having asthmatic attacks, we might think that’s just their disease. Instead they may be having asthma attacks because pets are being kept in the classroom. If everyone feels about the same, it may be difficult to recognize that the ventilation system isn’t working properly.

JD: Are some parts of the county harder hit with air quality problems than other areas?

MS: I don’t think so. We get complaints from all over. There are people using the kits everywhere. People have a tendency to associate the mold issue, for instance, with more humid climates, but we are finding mold problems in the country’s drier climates, too.

JD: How different are the air quality needs for different schools; elementary versus high school, etc.?

MS: I don’t know that they are different. I believe the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers probably prescribes about the same standards of ventilation rates. They set voluntary ventilation standards for all types of buildings including schools. High schools have more people in general, but I don’t think that creates bigger problems.

JD: Is there anything you’d like to add that I haven’t asked?

MS: One of the things we touched on briefly in the beginning is partnerships and the people we’re working with. We are targeting, specifically, school districts. Some of the partners we’re working with are the National Education Association, the American Lung Association, and some asthma groups. One of the award winners in our August symposium is a mother who belongs to an organization called Mothers of Asthmatics and she was interested in making sure her child’s school was the best it could be and got the school to adopt the “Tools for Schools” kit. That’s an example of how we see action by partnering with local organizations that have membership in local schools.
As local schools begin to implement the program, they can look for partners such as their county health department or lung associations. I believe that’s the way to advance concerns about indoor air quality and the “Tools for Schools” program.