Healthy Schools Committee

The Boston Urban Asthma Coalition's Healthy Public Schools Committee is composed of parents, school staff, community members, public health and environmental advocates who seek to reduce asthma triggers in the school environment.

In Boston Public Schools, asthma is the most common chronic condition treated; asthma is not only common among students, teachers, and staff.

• Environmental inspections of all 138 Boston School buildings have found that approximately 90% of the schools have at least one condition that makes asthma worse: leaks, mold, pests, dust, improperly stored chemicals and air quality problems due to poor ventilation.
• Pests are a leading asthma trigger in the schools. Sixty-nine percent of the schools have reported pest problems.
• Eighty percent of the schools have leaks, which if left unrepaired can develop into mold - also a cause of asthma attacks.

To read our report on asthma and indoor air quality in the schools, called Who’s sick at school: Linking poor school conditions and health disparities for Boston’s children, click here.
 

The Committee promotes its goals through education, training and advocacy guided by the BUAC Healthy Schools Platform. The Healthy Schools Platform promotes common sense criteria for building and maintaining healthy schools. The action platform includes:

• Establishing School Environmental Committees to inspect building conditions
• Increasing health services for asthmatics
• Using of less toxic school chemicals and integrated pest management practices
• Promoting healthy high performance school design standards and spending on repairs and maintenance needed to address mold and indoor air quality problems

The mission of the committee is to improve the health of asthmatic children and staff in Boston Public Schools, so that every child can learn. Our belief is "if you can't breathe, you can't learn."

The Healthy Schools Committee also participates in the Massachusetts Healthy Schools Network. MAHSN engages in regional and state-wide advocacy, involving healthy schools network leaders and members of the teachers and school staff unions to ensure that problem schools are addressed and that new schools are built with the health of students and teachers in mind. It has succeeded in changing regulations to protect students and staff health during construction and renovation projects and is promoting green school design standards and a statewide Bill on green cleaners. For more information on the MAHSN go to www.masscosh.org

 

Boston Urban Asthma Coalition
622 Washington Street
Dorchester, MA 02124
(617) 423-4337
fax (617) 282-3950
jzotter@tmfnet.org

Healthy Schools