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Integrating chemical management into a comprehensive emergency operations plan (EOP), including through the creation of a Toxic Materials Annex and a Hazardous Materials Annex, helps improve a school district's or individual school's preparedness for a chemical-related incident. To ensure the annexes remain relevant and useful, districts and individual schools should practice them through emergency exercises and make revisions based on lessons learned. Additionally, districts and individual schools should review, update, and strengthen these annexes regularly. The lessons learned in this document are the reflections of one school and are based on one chemical spill. They are suggestions to consider when developing an emergency operations plan that incorporates planning for hazardous chemicals; they are not prescriptive best practices for every school or school district. The names of the school and school district have been changed to protect identities.

Protecting all people from the harmful effects of environmental exposures relies on the coordinated efforts of scientific researchers, regulatory agencies, legislators, and the public. Environmental justice addresses the disproportionate impact that harmful environmental exposures have on individuals and communities who are minoritized and marginalized. It has long been known that environmental problems disproportionately impact these groups; however, addressing these problems has been impeded by structural racism and other biases. Developing effective interventions to eliminate these disparities requires a more diverse and inclusive modern workforce produced by a bottom-up approach beginning with education and professional development of the next generation of researchers. The most effective approaches to addressing inequities rely on active input from impacted populations to ensure cultural and social acceptance and adoption of interventions. Credibly pursuing these efforts in a sustainable, inclusive manner will require a concerted shift in workforce demography. One potential strategy to address these workforce disparities features academic-industry partnerships with targeted professional development programs aimed at minoritized and underserved populations. [This paper was supported by strategic funds from the University Collaboration Office at RTI International and North Carolina Central University.]

UNICEF Innocenti's Report Card 17 explores how the 43 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and/or the European Union (EU) countries are faring in providing healthy environments for children. Do children have clean water to drink? Do they have good-quality air to breathe? Are their homes free of lead and mould? How many children live in overcrowded homes? How many have access to green play spaces, safe from road traffic? Data show that a nation's wealth does not guarantee a healthy environment. Far too many children are deprived of a healthy home, irreversibly damaging their current and future well-being. Beyond children's immediate environments, over-consumption in some of the world's richest countries is destroying children's environments globally. This threatens both children worldwide and future generations. To provide all children with safe and healthy environments, governments, policymakers, businesses and all stakeholders are called to act on a set of policy recommendations. The report focuses on the following questions: (1) How do environmental factors affect children's well-being? (2) How are many of the world's richest countries faring in terms of providing a healthy environment in which children can live, develop and thrive? and (3) What actions can these countries take to improve the environments in which children live? [This report was written with contributions from Dominic Richardson, Gunilla Olsson, Celine Little, Dagna Rams, Gro Dehli Villanger, Nicole Quattrini, Tim Huijts, Mirza Balaj and Terje Eikemo.]

This year's Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics' (Forum) report provides the Nation with carefully selected key national indicators of children's well-being and monitors changes in these indicators. The purposes of this report are to improve reporting of Federal data on children and families; make the most relevant data on the well-being of children and their families available in an easy-to-use, nontechnical format; stimulate discussions among policymakers, data providers, and the public; and cultivate relationships between the statistical and policy communities. It presents 41 key indicators on important aspects of children's lives. These indicators are drawn from the most reliable Federal statistics, are easily understood by broad audiences, are objectively based on substantial research, are balanced so that no single area of children's lives dominates the report, are measured often to show trends over time, and are representative of large segments of the population rather than one particular group. The report continues to present key indicators in seven domains: (1) family and social environment; (2) economic circumstances; (3) health care; (4) physical environment and safety; (5) behavior; (6) education; and (7) health. To ensure that the information stays relevant, the Forum periodically revises indicators, data sources, and features to maintain the relevance of the report. [For "America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2020," see ED609006.]

It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that to protect and promote the health of all children, robust environmental health protections must be in place, and the inequities that lead to environmental injustice must be eliminated. The environment is a powerful social determinant of health and a critical factor in our children's development, academic performance, and future socioeconomic status. The registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as school nurse) assesses for environmental health hazards, implements and coordinates individual health and social interventions, and addresses social determinants of health based on the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) "Framework for 21st Century School Nursing™" (NASN, 2016), to positively influence children's environmental health (Campbell & Anderko, 2020). This document provides the background and rationale for NASN's position. [This position statement was initially adopted in January 2014 and was revised in June 2018 and January 2021.]

Long before closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, many Pennsylvania schools faced a different health crisis: unsafe facilities. Crumbling buildings, asbestos, lead, and other school facility health and safety risks plague many schools across Pennsylvania, particularly in low-income districts and those that enroll a high percentage of Black and Latinx students. The Commonwealth's failure to provide adequate facilities funding has created what Pennsylvania school administrators and school business officials have called a "growing disparity between those school districts that can address vital school construction, renovation or maintenance needs and those that cannot." This brief: (1) examines available evidence related to the condition of Pennsylvania's school facilities; (2) reviews past, current, and proposed policies related to how the state funds emergency facilities expenses; and (3) discusses how other states provide for emergency school facilities funding. Four findings are discussed in detail and recommendations are provided for how Pennsylvania can improve current funding policy to ensure safe and healthy school facilities and address disparities in district capacity to do so.

Nine percent of young U.S. children live in deep poverty, with state rates ranging from 17 percent in Mississippi to 4 percent in Utah. The families of these children have incomes below 50 percent of the federal poverty line, or less than $10,289 for a family of one parent and two children. Understanding more about the early health and development of young children in deep poverty and related risk factors can inform policies tailored to this group of vulnerable families. The National Academy of Sciences report, "Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty" (see ED604930) examines two policy packages that meet the goal of reducing both poverty and deep poverty by 50 percent. These packages include an increased minimum wage, a child allowance, and housing assistance. Based on an earlier examination of young children and families in deep poverty (see ED578993), the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) has recommended a mix of policies to increase family income and ensure immediate and longer-term supports for children's healthy development in the family and in early care and education settings. This report presents new analyses with more recent data that highlight the needs of young children and families in deep poverty, along with updated recommendations. Key sections of the report are: (1) A description of methods; (2) Findings that show: (a) Differences in health and development indicators across income groups; (b) Differences in family and community factors across income groups; (c) Racial/ethnic disparities in young children's experience of deep poverty; (3) Summary; and (4) Recommendations.

Public school facilities primarily serve an educational role, and they also serve a civic role as voting places and emergency shelters. School districts collectively spend tens of billions of dollars each year on facilities construction needs at the nearly 100,000 K-12 public schools nationwide. About half (an estimated 54 percent) of public school districts need to update or replace multiple building systems or features in their schools, according to the Government Accountability Office's (GAO's) national survey of school districts. The Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 included a provision for GAO to study the condition of public school facilities. This report examines: (1) the common facility condition issues school districts identify in public schools and how they have done so; and (2) school districts' highest priorities for their school facility renovations and updates, and how districts and states fund them. GAO conducted a nationally representative survey of school districts and also surveyed 50 states and the District of Columbia; visited 55 schools in 16 districts across six states, selected for geographic variation and other characteristics; analyzed federal data on school district expenditures for capital construction projects; and interviewed federal, state, district, and school officials.

Eliminating lead risks in PK-12 public and private schools was the focus of a facilitated workshop co-sponsored and organized by Healthy Schools Network, the Children's Environmental Health Network, and the Learning Disabilities Association of America. Held December 6-7, 2017, in Washington, DC, it included some 40 participants. They were experts in varied fields--toxic chemicals, children's health, economics, education, environment, and public health--who came together for the first time to learn, discuss, and map near-term steps in a comprehensive strategy for eliminating lead exposure in schools and child care facilities. The workshop took place against the backdrop of new federal efforts on lead, including a 2016 updated inventory of federal lead prevention programs. A study by economist Corwin Rhyan, one of the keynote speakers, recognizes that lead poisoning of children is preventable and that eliminating all exposures to lead could save the nation as much as $84 billion annually. With these factors in mind, participants created an urgent public-private strategy to address all sources of lead in schools and child care facilities. The following is a list of workshop findings that informed this strategy: (1) No amount of lead is safe for any child; (2) Lead poisoning is preventable; (3) Children of color and children from low-income communities experience greater exposures to lead hazards than other children; (4) Lead poisoning of American children is an urgent issue costing the nation as much as an estimated $84 billion annually; (5) Lead poisoning erodes our future as an economically competitive nation; (6) Public- and private-sector agencies and entities must work together to end risks of lead in school and child care facilities; (7) There are existing programs and campaigns to build on or expand new strategic efforts that must be taken up; and (8) Lead embedded in paint, water, products, and equipment associated with school and child care facilities must be addressed with united advocacy campaigns, new public and private resources, and new federal and state programs. This report documents participants' goals and plans to eliminate lead risks, focused on the need to: (1) Develop a strategic framework to eliminate lead risks in schools and child care environments; (2) Draft implementation plans and identify activities that can be collectively advanced; and (3) Motivate participants to work together toward this common agenda. After the workshop process, seven strategic areas emerged as priorities: (1) Winning policies to eliminate sources of lead risks in schools and child care facilities; (2) Improvement, promotion, and enforcement regulations and standards for these settings; (3) Encouraging or persuading the private sector to commit to lead-free solutions; (4) Identification and prioritization of sources of lead in schools and child care facilities; (5) Pressing for increased government funding to eliminate lead exposures at school and child care facilities; (6) Development of a strong message and communications campaign on lead for diverse audiences; and (7) Seeking expanded foundation and other sources of support for NGO campaigns and actions to eliminate risks of lead in school and child care facilities. A keynote address by Bruce Lanpear, and the workshop agenda are included. [The Children's Environmental Health Network also hosted this collaborative workshop. The report was supported by the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts.]

Each year countries suffer great tragedy when natural disasters destroy schools and disrupt children's education. In addition to causing immediate harm to children, there is mounting evidence that the direct impact of natural disasters can translate into a series of indirect long-term effects. For some time, multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions, United Nations (UN) agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been engaged in efforts to make schools resilient to natural hazards. Despite these efforts, however, the safety of school facilities in many disaster-prone countries is unknown, and governments and donors continue to finance new school construction without taking sufficient account of safety. In 2014, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) launched the Global Program for Safer Schools (GPSS). Through the GPSS, GFDRR support programs designed to establish safer school facilities in countries where the government has firmly committed to a reform or investment program in the education sector. GFDRR provides technical assistance to ensure that such education sector programs finance safer school facilities. The aim of the GPSS is to make school facilities, and the communities they serve, more resilient to natural hazards. This Roadmap is focused specifically on school infrastructure (which includes the school site and buildings). For investment opportunities to be effective and to have maximum impact at community and national scales, it is important that this support is coordinated with investments in school disaster management, risk reduction and resilience in education, and disaster preparedness in other sectors. [The preparation of this report was completed under the Global Program for Safe Schools of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). The report was developed by Arup International Development, Hayley Gryc, and Joseph Stables in collaboration with the Global Program for Safer Schools team.]

Lead poisoning harms brain and nervous system development and is most detrimental to children resulting in, among other things, reduced attention span, learning disabilities, higher high school dropout rates and delinquency, and higher likelihood of violent crime in adulthood. One major source of lead poisoning in Wisconsin is old housing stock. Lead was banned from paint in 1978, but there is still a lot of lead based paint in Wisconsin homes, which decays and creates dust with lead that children can inhale. Wisconsin has at least 176,000 lead service lines that carry water to homes and businesses, which can carry lead to drinking water. Blood lead poisoning is preventable. From 2007 to 2011, the Wisconsin Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program partnered with Wisconsin's Medicaid program to offer Medicaid providers blood lead testing reports. Reinstituting this initiative could increase the number of children tested, giving them better access to care and providing better data to help policymakers target solutions. Expanding testing to cover all housing older than 1950 could help properly target vulnerable populations. The most impactful way to reduce blood lead poisoning is to prevent it from happening. Although prevention efforts come at a significant cost, the savings are immense. The Wisconsin Department of Human Services estimates if blood lead poisoning was eliminated, $7 billion in costs would be saved in areas such as medical care, special education, crime, and juvenile delinquency. They also estimate a $21 billion increase in new earnings as the result of increased high-school graduation and lifetime ability to earn.

School leaders across the United States face the challenge of creating safe and secure environments across their campuses in a way that helps promote the achievement of schools' educational objectives. To help them meet this challenge, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency asked the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center to conduct a review of the literature on physical security in kindergarten-through-12th grade (K-12) schools and other, comparable sectors to improve school leaders' understanding of how system-based security operations and physical elements can protect school occupants and mitigate the impact of threats and risks. In this report, the authors define and present a systems approach to school physical security in which five protection and mitigation elements--security equipment and technology, site and building design, people and personnel, policies and procedures, and training and exercises--integrate and work together to provide layered security benefits. Specifically, the approach to protection and mitigation elaborated here emphasizes that the policies, procedures, and training developed around school physical security tie together people and personnel with equipment, technology, and design choices to build a coherent system. School leaders need to think about how the protection and mitigation options they have in place affect the broader school mission, operations, and climate. Schools with diversity in student bodies, campus locations, and other traits will approach physical security in unique ways that match their unique needs, recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to protection and mitigation. [For the companion report, "Challenges in Implementing Physical Security Measures in K-12 Schools. Research Report. RR-A1077-2," see ED615799.]

"Towards Healthy Schools: Reducing Risks to Children" is the fourth in a series of triennial state of the states' reports from Healthy Schools Network and its partners in the Coalition for Healthier Schools, dating from 2006. Previous reports assessed state-by-state environmental health hazards at schools, offered compelling personal narratives from parents and teachers, and provided data needed to assess the subsequent impact on children's health. The last report, "Towards Healthy Schools 2015", went deeper into specific issues such as asthma, and fracking and well water, while also using federal poverty statistics--e.g., the number of children in a school eligible for free or reduced-price meals--as a proxy for poverty and to highlight essential inequities and injustices. It also highlighted how greener, cleaner, healthier schools promote attendance and achievement. Yet, no state publishes information regarding children at risk due to school and/or child care center environmental hazards. To drive home the national scope of the hidden environmental health crisis faced by children, this new report features published media reports on environmental conditions from every state in the nation. From Alabama, where Bay Minette parents threatened to keep their children home to avoid exposing them to asbestos, to Wyoming, where grass fires endangered students at South High, it is a disturbing summary, highlighting the fact that across the country teachers, parents, and guardians, and the children themselves, face numerous and serious unexamined and unaddressed risks to health and learning which are rarely acknowledged by public agencies. [For the 2015 report, "Towards Healthy Schools 2015: Progress on America's Environmental Health Crisis for Children," see ED541346. Support for the narrative introduction was provided by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Education Facilities Clearinghouse, The California Endowment, Park Foundation, and Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment. Contributors to the national data, state commentaries, and special topics are acknowledged on pages 4-5 of the PDF.]

On November 9-11, 2015, Healthy Schools Network, with funding support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Education Facilities Clearinghouse, The California Endowment, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, convened the first national facilitated workshop on environmental health in schools and child care facilities at The PEW Charitable Trusts in Washington, DC. The theme of this meeting was: "Environmental Health at School: Ignored Too Long". This meeting brought together representatives from local and state health departments, public health associations, federal agencies (the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry [CDC -NCEH/ATSDR), and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)], environmental and health NGOs, environmental justice organizations, school facilities experts, and parents of affected children to develop research and policy recommendations for addressing environmental health hazards (including, but not limited to, indoor air pollution, PCBs, molds, and chemical mismanagement and spills) commonly found in the nation's 130,000 PK-12 schools and child care facilities. These risks place more than 55 million children who occupy these facilities across the country at risk every day. This summary report outlines the main themes derived from conversations during the facilitated workshop, as well as policy and research recommendations that participants indicated should be explored further. In generating creative solutions that put children's environmental health first, attendees were asked not to allow potential fiscal constraints to limit their thinking. This summary provides background to and an outline of potential policy and research priorities to be refined at a national meeting of stakeholders hosted by the Healthy Schools Network, proposed for late spring of 2016. Representatives of 32 organizations participated in the Panel and Workshop, and the list of panel and workshop participants is provided in Appendix 1 of this report. [For the full report see ED570459.]

On November 9-11, 2015, Healthy Schools Network, with funding support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Education Facilities Clearinghouse, California Endowment, Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, convened the first national facilitated workshop on environmental health at school at The PEW Charitable Trusts in Washington, DC. This gathering assembled knowledgeable parents, experts, and advocates from multiple fields to develop research and policy recommendations for addressing environmental health hazards (including, but not limited to, indoor air pollution, PCBs, molds, and chemical mismanagement and spills) commonly found in the nation's 130,000 PK-12 schools and child care facilities. These risks place more than 55 million children who occupy these facilities across the country at risk every day. Overall, participants agreed that children's risks and exposures at schools and in child care facilities are truly public health issues that require public health solutions. Recommendations include the need for collaborations across the sectors to develop preventive measures and identify a host of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention actions that keep all children safe. Healthy Schools Network closed the workshop by informing the group that a meeting summary, including their suggestions and recommendations, would be developed, revised by the members of the organizing committee and breakout group leads, and shared with the participants by the end of December. The additional goal is to share the report and its recommendations with a larger group of stakeholders at a national gathering organized by Healthy Schools Network, proposed for late spring 2016. Appended are: (1) Attendees; (2) Speakers and Presentations; (3) Breakout Group Reports; and (4) Bibliography.

Throughout history, the advance of civilization has been closely tied to the idea that all people have rights: universal, inalienable entitlements to freedom, dignity and security, to be treated fairly and to live free from oppression. The health and soul of all societies depend on how these human rights are recognized--and acted upon. Until the Convention on the Rights of the Child was conceived and adopted 25 years ago, the rights of the world's youngest citizens were not explicitly recognized by any international treaty, nor was there acknowledgement of the fundamental connection between the well-being of children and the strength of their societies. This is why the Convention was such an important milestone--and why the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary challenges us all to find new ways of pursuing its universal mandate for every child, as the global community charts its course for the post-Millennium Development Goals period. As the essays in this compendium make clear, during the 25 years since the Convention was adopted, the world has taken action. In every region--and virtually every nation on earth--the Convention has inspired changes in laws to protect children and policies to help them reach their full potential. More broadly, it has provided a clear mandate to translate the right of every child to health, protection and hope into practical programmes and services. In the foreword of this document, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake says that the rights of children are the foundation of a strong and just society. The rapid, widespread ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child--and the results it has helped bring about for children--are among the great triumphs of the past quarter century. He proposes a call to action for reasons moral, economic and humanitarian--and as a means to promote peace and opportunity for every person, in every context--that we must all build on that progress to enable the children of the world to achieve their full potential. Following this foreword, the following contributions are presented in this document: (1) "Is the World a Better Place for Children?" Provides statistical analysis of progress since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (2) "The Genesis and Spirit of the Convention on the Rights of the Child" (Kirsten Sandburg) reports some encouraging improvements in governments' provision and protection of the rights of children, and discusses many solid efforts and results not only with regard to health and education but also in areas such as juvenile justice, and child participation. (3) "The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Delivery on the Promise for Children is Long Overdue" (Kevin Watkins) reminds us that during the March on Washington, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. described the words of the American Constitution as "a promissory note" providing the guarantee of equal opportunity for all citizens. As the world marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Watkins says that The Convention, too, is a "promissory note"--a solemn pledge backed by 194 governments to the world's children. That note, which establishes children as rights holders, is universal in scope and underpinned by four core principles. (4) "The Convention on the Rights of the Child: What it Would Mean to Fulfill Its Potential" (Jody Heyman and Amy Raub) recognizes the importance of evaluating how far countries have come in embedding the principles of the Convention in national laws and policies. The essay also recognizes the potential impact of using that information to identify and examine what hurdles remain. (5) Taking Children Seriously (Urs Gasser) introduces us to two very different but equally significant events of the past 25 years: the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly, and the invention of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. While largely unrelated back in 1989, the Convention and the Web share important challenges and opportunities today.

Problems associated with the environment loom large over the future well-being of young generations. A previous issue of PISA in Focus (PISA in Focus 87) shows that in 2015 many 15-year-old students believed that the future -- their future -- was going to be worse, environmentally, than the present. In particular, only a minority of students (fewer than one in five, on average across OECD countries) believed that problems related to air pollution, the extinction of plants and animals, clearing forests for land use, water shortages and nuclear waste would improve over the next 20 years. But are teenagers more or less pessimistic than their parents?

Elevated blood lead levels in children--even at very low levels--contribute to learning deficits and behavioral and attentional problems. No federal law requires the testing of drinking water in schools, and recent reports from the Government Accountability Office reveal a dearth of lead testing of water or paint in school buildings. This NASBE analysis explores why many school districts are not testing for lead and how state policymakers can take preventative, active measures to protect students and staff.

Informal science educators play a key role in promoting science literacy, safety, and health by teaching pesticide toxicology to the large, at-risk Latino farmworker population in the United States (US). To understand the experiences of informal science educators and the nature of farmworker education, we must have knowledge of farmworker educators' beliefs, yet little is known about these beliefs and how beliefs about teaching, pesticide risk, and self-efficacy might influence teaching environments and practices and potentially inform the field of informal science education. In this exploratory, descriptive case study, we used questionnaires and interviews to investigate the teaching, pesticide risk, and self-efficacy beliefs of 19 farmworker educators in one southeastern US state, identifying salient personal, behavioral, and environmental factors that influence beliefs using Bandura's (1986) model of reciprocal determinism. We found that two distinct groups of farmworker educators emerged based on work affiliation. Health care and advocacy educators typically had more learner-focused beliefs, greater concern about pesticide risks, and lower self-efficacy. In contrast, state agency and Cooperative Extension/university educators expressed more teacher-focused beliefs, less cautious pesticide risk beliefs, and higher self-efficacy. Three factors emerged as important influences on these informal educators' beliefs: quantity of lessons provided, shared language with learners, and experience with handling pesticides. Study implications include recommendations for future work in informal science education research to explore the role of educators' authentic experiences with science, the significance of educators' institutional affiliations, and the prevalence of low self-efficacy among educators.

States compel children to attend school; in fact, 98% of all school-age children attend schools--irrespective of conditions. Yet the environmental conditions of decayed facilities or facilities close to hazards can damage children's health and ability to learn. At the same time, it is well documented that healthy school facilities can help children learn, grow, and stay healthy. Today, justice for children can be achieved, but that demands swifter, surer progress on federal, state, and local fronts to ensure that all children have environmentally healthy schools that are clean and in good repair--and when children do not, that they have timely on-site public health interventions to help reduce exposures and have necessary support services. This is a profound pediatric health and environmental justice issue that must not be set aside. "Towards Healthy Schools 2015: Progress on America's Environmental Health Crisis for Children" is the third triennial state-by-state data and policy report on this topic since 2006. "Sick Schools" (2009) and before it "Lessons Learned" (2006) researched and assessed state-by-state data and policies on environmental conditions at schools and risks to children's health, compiling them into a single, unique resource that painted a deeply disturbing picture, in which vulnerable children endure unhealthy schools. "Towards Healthy Schools 2015" cites, as did the two previous reports, basic federal data for public schools, such as total number of buildings; total enrollment; total number of personnel; percentage of children with asthma; percentage of children without health insurance; total number of children receiving special education; total number of children of minority status; and more. New in this edition are three data sets used to illustrate additional risk factors not covered in the first two reports: (1) total number of children eligible for free or reduced price meals (a proxy for poverty status); (2) states requiring schools to keep asthma/allergy incident reports; and (3) states requiring inspection of school drinking water outlets for lead. Appended are: (1) State Data Table Footnotes; (2) US Environmental Protection Agency: Office of Children's Health; (3) US Department of Education: Green Ribbon Schools; (4) Map: School Equity Funding Lawsuits in the States; and (5) Coalition for Healthier Schools: Position Statement and Policy Recommendations. (Contains 30 endnotes.) [Additional funding was provided by the Wallace Genetic and the Marisla Foundation.]

Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental contaminants. Their bodies are still developing, they eat, drink, and breathe more per pound of body weight than adults, they have lungs that are still developing, and they may be more exposed to hazards and unaware of how to protect themselves. Lead exposure can cause serious damage to children's developing brains. There is no safe level of lead. Most of children's lives are spent in schools when they are not at home. Lead in drinking water is an issue most schools have not been required to address or report. Parents should learn about lead in the drinking and cooking water in their children's schools and care centers. After discussing the health effects of lead on children and pregnant women, this paper presents the Healthy Schools Network's 5-Point Plan for lead in school drinking water and discusses what state officials, school officials, and parents can do. A list of resources is provided.

Lead poisoning has well-known impacts for the developing brain of young children, with a large literature documenting the negative effects of elevated blood lead levels on academic and behavioral outcomes. In April of 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was changed, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking water. In this study, we use Michigan's universe of longitudinal, student-level education records, combined with home water service line inspection data containing the location of lead pipes, to empirically examine the effect of the Flint Water Crisis on educational outcomes of Flint public school children. We leverage parallel causal identification strategies, a between-district synthetic control analysis and a within-Flint difference-in-differences analysis, to separate out the direct health effects of lead exposure from the broad effects of living in a community experiencing a crisis. Our results highlight a less well-appreciated consequence of the Flint Water Crisis -- namely, the psychosocial effects of the crisis on the educational outcomes of school-age children. These findings suggest that cost estimates which rely only on the negative impact of direct lead exposure substantially underestimate the overall societal cost of the crisis.

The purpose of this review of literature is to examine the association of phthalate exposure with development. Phthalates are chemical compounds used in poly-vinyl chloride, PVC; vinyl flooring, cosmetics, shampoo, air fresheners, soft plastic items, intravenous tubing, food packaging and wraps, textiles, paints, cleaning products and detergents. The effects of phthalates on fetuses, newborns, infants, toddlers, school-aged children and adult subjects have been extensively researched. Multiple studies examined associations between phthalate exposure and physiological, cognitive and behavioral development of the subjects. The review of research examines the history of toxic chemical legislation, beginning with the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act and the role of regulatory agencies in the United States, including the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA; the Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC; and the Food and Drug Administration.

This publication, part of the new Building and Infrastructure Protection Series (BIPS) published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Infrastructure Protection and Disaster Management Division (IDD), serves to advance high performance and integrated design for buildings and infrastructure. This manual was prepared as a component of the S&T program for infrastructure protection and disaster management; the overall goal of this program is to enhance the physical resistance of the Nation's buildings and infrastructure to manmade and natural hazards to meet specific performance requirements at the highest possible level. This is the Second Edition of a publication developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as part of the Risk Management Series known as: FEMA 428, "Primer to Design Safe School Projects in Case of Terrorist Attacks." This publication (hereafter primer) revises and expands the original 2003 edition with updated risk assessment techniques, protective measures, emerging technologies, and discussion of the threat of school shootings. The purpose of this primer is to provide the design community and school administrators with the basic principles and techniques to make a school safe from terrorist attacks and school shootings and at the same time ensure it is functional and aesthetically pleasing, and meets the needs of the students, staff, administration, and general public. Protecting a school building and grounds from physical attack is a significant challenge because the design, construction, renovation, operation, and maintenance of a facility must consider numerous building users, infrastructure systems, and building design codes. Appended are: (1) Acronyms; (2) Glossary; (3) Chemical, Biolological, and Radiological Glossary; (4) References; (5) Associations; and (6) Building Vulnerability Assessment Checklist. (Contains 74 figures, 14 tables and 1 footnote.)

Sanitizers and disinfectants can play an important role in protecting public health. They are designed to kill "pests," including infectious germs and other microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Unfortunately, sanitizers and disinfectants also contain chemicals that are "pesticides." Exposure to persistent toxic chemicals in pesticides can cause serious health problems. Healthy Schools Network, Inc. (HSN) recommends schools follow all public health laws and regulations regarding the use of sanitizers and disinfectants in schools, and proceed with extreme caution when using any chemicals around children or staff. If the law does not require a chemical use, schools should conduct a thorough analysis of the potential risk of introducing another chemical cleaning product into the school environment. The purpose of this Guide is to provide basic information about the use of sanitizers and disinfectants. A glossary and a list of sources and resources are included.

There is a considerable body of literature on research on environmental knowledge, attitude and action. A lot of research has occurred on the primary and secondary school populations and the general population. However, much less emphasis has been placed on studies that concern post-compulsory education students in the range from 16 to 18 years old. The purpose of this review was to give an overview of environmental knowledge, attitude and action research with a particular emphasis on youth. The findings of a majority of studies reported a positive attitude towards the environment and a variety of levels of environmental knowledge. Behavior was not extensively studied. A number of studies found that females had a more positive attitude towards the environment than males. The majority of studies indicate that the main sources of environmental information for youth are television, books, newspapers, schools and friends. The main environmental problems mentioned by students were air pollution, water pollution, the loss of biological diversity and "population increase in the big cities" and hazardous waste. Most studies used quantitative techniques to gather data. The most commonly used instrument was a questionnaire with multiple choice questions and a Likert type scale particularly to measure attitudes. Considering the mainly quantitative nature of these studies, more appropriate sampling strategies, contextualized research instruments and statistical analysis should have been carried out to ensure more robust statistical findings. (Contains 2 tables.)

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are synthetic chemicals that were manufactured in the United States between about 1930 and 1977 for use in various industrial and commercial applications because of their nonflammability, chemical stability, high boiling point, and electrical insulation properties (ATSDR, 2000). PCBs were used in numerous products and processes, including electrical, heat transfer, and hydraulic equipment; as plasticizers in various products; in paints and finishes; in pigments, dyes, and carbonless copy paper; and in other industrial and commercial applications. Most of the PCB mixtures manufactured for commercial use in the United States are known by the trade name Aroclor. Each specific Aroclor contained mixtures of some of the 209 congeners, with chlorine contents of the different Aroclors ranging from 21% to 68%. Between 1957 and 1971, 12 types of Aroclors were produced (ATSDR, 2000). During this time, PCBs were used in completely closed systems (such as transformers and capacitors), nominally closed systems (such as hydraulic systems and vacuum pumps), and open systems (such as plasticizers and paints). In 1970, the manufacturer discontinued use of Aroclors in open products and uses that could lead to direct transfer into the environment (Erickson, 1997). Manufacture of PCBs was banned in the United States by Congress, and their use was phased out, except for certain limited uses, by 1978 because of evidence they are persistent in the environment and can cause harmful health effects. PCBs have been shown to cause cancer in animals, and, in chronic animal studies, PCBs have been shown to cause effects on the immune, reproductive, nervous, and endocrine systems. In some studies, exposure to PCBs has been associated with adverse health effects in humans. Because of potential neurotoxic and endocrine effects, there is concern regarding children's exposures to PCBs. Of particular concern is the potential for school children's exposures to PCBs in older schools. Schools constructed between 1950 and 1978 may contain caulk that incorporated PCBs as a plasticizer. Research on sources of PCBs and levels in school environments is needed to improve risk management decisions. To better understand the significance of PCB-contaminated caulk as a source of exposures to children, teachers, and staff in school buildings, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency's (EPA's) Office of Research and Development (ORD) plans to: (1) characterize PCB-contaminated caulk and other potential sources of PCBs in schools; (2) investigate relationships between PCB concentrations in air, on surfaces, and in dust and soil with potential sources in school buildings; (3) evaluate which routes of exposure (e.g., inhalation, contact with surfaces or dust) are likely to be most important; (4) improve exposure assessment models for school-related exposures and examine the feasibility for development of an indoor model for PCBs; and (5) provide samples, data, and other information to assist in developing risk management practices for reducing exposure to PCBs in schools. To meet these research objectives, the ORD National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) plans to conduct a measurement study in up to nine schools in the United States. The research described in this study design is being coordinated with research efforts in the ORD National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) that are aimed at evaluating PCB emission rates, transport, and exposure mitigation methods. Study Summary Information for Schools is appended. (Contains 9 tables.)

"MCPS School Safety and Security at a Glance" provides, in a single document, information about the reporting of incidents related to school safety and security, school climate, local school safety program descriptions, and serious incidents in all Montgomery County (Maryland) public schools. The information is presented for each school. While much of this information is available in various documents produced throughout the year, "MCPS School Safety and Security at a Glance" provides this information for stakeholders in a single comprehensive report with a user-friendly format. "MCPS School Safety and Security at a Glance" is a valuable tool to help monitor accurate reporting of incidents related to school safety and security. This report provides a concise, easily understood, and easily accessible snapshot to foster a discussion among administrators, teachers, students, and parents on the best learning environment possible in every school. The following are included in this report: (1) a glossary of terms; (2) Regulation COB-RA: Reporting a Serious Incident; and (3) an index. [This publication is the result of the efforts of several offices within Montgomery County Public Schools: Office of the Chief Operating Officer; Office of the Deputy Superintendent of Schools; Office of School Performance; Office of the Chief Technology Officer; and Office of Shared Accountability.]

Exposure to toxic chemicals or environmental pollutants may harm the health of the nation's 74 million children and contribute to increases in asthma and developmental impairments. In 2007, 66 percent of children lived in counties exceeding allowable levels for at least one of the six principal air pollutants that cause or aggravate asthma, contributing to medical costs of $3.2 billion per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1997, Executive Order 13045 mandated that agencies place a high priority on children's risks and required that policies, programs, activities, and standards address those risks. In response, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the Office of Children's Health Protection and convened the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee. This report assesses the extent to which EPA has institutionalized consideration of children's health through (1) strategies and priorities, (2) key offices and other child-focused resources, and (3) participation in interagency efforts. GAO reviewed numerous documents and met with EPA and other officials for this report. GAO recommends improvements to help EPA protect children, and EPA agreed to implement them. GAO also suggests that Congress consider reinstating a government-wide task force on children's environmental health. Appendices include: (1) Scope and Methodology; (2) EPA Policy on Evaluating Health Risks to Children; (3) Executive Order 13045 and Amendments; (4) EPA Regulations Subject to Executive Order 13045; (5) Comments from the Environmental Protection Agency; and (6) GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments. (Contains 6 tables, 4 figures, and 65 footnotes.)[Key contributions to this report were made by Diane Raynes, Elizabeth Beardsley, Timothy Bober, Mark Braza, Emily Hanawalt, Terrance Horner, Jr., Aaron Shiffrin, Benjamin Shouse, and Kiki Theodoropoulos.]