Sick Schools PDF Download

Everybody knows that healthy school buildings contribute to student learning, reduce health and operating costs, and ultimately, increase school quality and competitiveness. However, 55 million of the nation's children attend public and private K-12 schools where poor air quality, hazardous chemicals and other unhealthy conditions make students (and their teachers) sick and handicap their ability to learn. In 2006, the "National Coalition for Healthier Schools" ground-breaking Lessons "Learned: Children--Victims of a Public Health Crisis", a national collaborative report from more than two dozen contributing organizations and individuals, provided case snapshots of children and personnel at risk as well as state-by-state impact data for the first time. This report updates and expands the 2006 national collaborative report. It shows not only the deep, long struggles to pass and to secure enforcement of laws in the states and locally, but also the continuing environmental public health crisis that is devastating the health, and the ability to learn and to stay in school for tens of millions of American school children every day. At highest risk are children who are in the lowest income, worst-performing schools and those children with underlying health and learning impairments. At least six million school-age children are without health insurance, meaning that it is highly unlikely that their daily environmental exposures are being effectively detected and addressed. Appended are: (1) State Data Tables Footnotes; (2) US Environmental Protection Agency: Healthy Schools Environments; (3) Map: Children Exposed To Unsafe Water; (4) Chart: Case Studies; (5) The National Academies Press, "Green Schools: Attributes for Health and Learning"; (6) Map: School Equity Funding Lawsuits in the States; and (7) National Coalition for Healthier Schools: Position Statement and Recommendations. (Contains 1 table and 12 footnotes.).