Children are our
most precious assets, and they can be more vulnerable to
many environmental contaminants than adults.
Children’s bodies are still developing, and they may
be exposed to more environmental contaminants than adults
because they eat, drink, and breathe more per pound of body
weight, and because their behaviors – like putting things in
their mouths and playing on and close to the floor– may
bring them in greater contact with contaminants than typical
adult behaviors. Providing educational facilities that
nurture the learning process is a fundamental societal
responsibility that goes hand in hand with the goal of
ensuring that every child receives a high quality education.
In the United States, more than 53 million elementary and
secondary students attend approximately 119,000 public and
private schools. The average child spends about 1,300 hours
in a school building each year; teachers and other employees
spend even longer periods. Today, the average school
building is about 42 years old. More than 75% of America’s
schools were built before 1970.
Unfortunately, in far too many cases, because of severe
past budget shortfalls, many of our schools are in poor
condition, leading to a host of environmental problems that
can have dramatic impacts on children, staff, learning, and
the fiscal bottom line. The General Accounting Office,
and the National Center for Education Statistics of the
Department of Education, among others, have documented the
poor physical condition of many of our older school
facilities. Studies show that student achievement is
related to the quality of the school environment and indoor
air quality issues consistently rank among the top
environmental risks to public health.
In 1999, one in five schools in the United States
reported unsatisfactory indoor air quality (IAQ); one in
four had inadequate ventilation. Good indoor air quality is an important component of a healthy indoor environment, and
can help schools reach their primary goal of educating children.
Indoor air problems can be subtle, and do not always produce easily
recognized impacts on health, well-being, or the physical plant. Nevertheless, failure to
prevent and respond promptly and effectively to IAQ problems that do arise can
have serious health, cost, and educational consequences:
- Increasing long- and
short-term health problems such as cough, eye irritation, headache,
asthma episodes, and allergic reactions, and, in rarer cases, life- threatening conditions such as severe
asthma attacks, Legionnaire's disease or carbon monoxide poisoning;
- Promoting the spread of airborne infectious diseases;
- Aggravating asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Nearly one school-aged child
in 13 has asthma, the leading cause of school absenteeism due to chronic disease. There is substantial evidence
that indoor environmental exposure to allergens, such as dust mites, other pests,
pet allergens, and molds play a role in triggering
asthma symptoms. These allergens are found in the school indoor environment;
- Producing an unfavorable learning environment for children;
- Reducing productivity of teachers and staff due to discomfort, sickness, or absenteeism;
- Accelerating the deterioration and reducing the efficiency of the school's physical
plant and equipment;
- Increasing the risk that school rooms or buildings will have to be closed, and
occupants temporarily relocated;
- Straining relationships among the school administration,
parents, and staff;
- Generating negative publicity that could damage a school's or administration's image and effectiveness;
and,
- Creating potential liability problems.
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While indoor air quality is a
critically important aspect of creating and maintaining school
facilities, many jurisdictions and organizations are embracing the concept of designing "High
Performance Schools" that is based on an integrated "whole
building" approach to address a myriad of important – and sometimes
competing – priorities such as energy efficiency, indoor air
quality, day-lighting, materials efficiency, and safety, all within the context of tight budgets and limited staff.
EPA views the IAQ Design Tools for Schools web page as a dynamic resource and strongly encourages visitors to comment
on all aspects of the information presented here and bring to our attention any
helpful additional resources
or ways to present this information.
Many States and localities have enacted legislation and/or established regulations, standards or
guidelines that
will affect school design and construction issues in that
community. Users of the
information presented here should seek information on
State
legislation, local ordinances, and building codes to
supplement information obtained here. In addition, all bid documents
should include a requirement to comply with all applicable
State and local codes and standards.
Printing IAQ Design Tools for Schools
IAQ Design Tools for Schools is only available
on-line at this time. To
print properly formatted pages that retain all of the text from this web site, you must
select Print Version at the top of each page under the title
bar.
Acknowledgements
In preparing this voluntary guidance, EPA has drawn
heavily from a number of materials that have already been
developed across the country addressing high performance schools. The Collaborative for High Performance
Schools (CHPS) Best Practices Manual (BPM)
and the
National Best Practices Manual for Building High Performance Schools
have been
particularly useful. Content reprinted/and or adapted from the CHPS
Best Practices Manual is by permission of The Collaborative for High
Performance Schools, Inc. The CHPS Best Practices Manual is
copyrighted by CHPS, Inc. End users of the BPM content are permitted
to use and or copy the content without further consent. However,
the permission of CHPS, Inc. must be obtained in order to re-license,
publish or develop derivative works from CHPS copyrighted materials. Many
other resources have also been used in the development of IAQ
Design Tools for Schools and users of this guidance are strongly
encouraged to refer to referenced resources and to the
Links page to assist them in
designing schools using a fully integrated whole building approach.
Disclaimer
By clicking on the links identified with an
tag, you will be leaving the EPA.gov domain and entering an external link. This link
provides additional information that may be useful or interesting and is being
provided consistent with the intended purpose of the EPA Web site. However, EPA
cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided by this link or any other
linked site. Providing links to a non-EPA Web site does not constitute an
endorsement by EPA or any of its employees of the sponsors of the site or the
information or products presented on the site. Also, be aware that the privacy
protection provided on the EPA.gov domain (see
Privacy and Security Notice)
may not be available at the external link.
References
-
National Center for
Education Statistics. U.S. Department of Education. 2000.
Condition of America’s
Public School Facilities: 1999.
NCES 2000-032
-
US General Accounting Office. School Facilities: Condition of
America’s Schools. Washington, DC: General Accounting Office
(GAO/HEHS-95-61); 1995.
-
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities. Do School
Facilities Affect Academic Outcomes? Mark Schneider. November
2002
-
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Indoor Air
Quality and Student Performance
(www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/images/iaq_and_student_performance.pdf),
EPA 402-K-03-006, Revised August 2003, Indoor Environments
Division. Washington DC.
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