My School Makes Me Sick: Cheap Solutions to Environmental Problems in Schools.

This paper presents 19 solutions to problems within the school environment: (1) ventilation (e.g., keep the thermostat fan on whenever the room is occupied); (2) filters (e.g., get rid of 20 percent cheap filters); (3) clean the ductwork; (4) avoid car and bus fumes by keeping vehicles 50 feet from the building; (5) sewer vents (vents must terminate at least 10 feet from a powered fresh air intake); (6) furnace exhaust pipes (if the furnace vent or other vent is closer than 10 feet from a powered fresh air intake, it must extend at least 3 feet above the intake); (7) floor and roof traps; (8) unvented science labs (which can send fumes into classrooms); (9) cosmetology odors (when there is no lab hood for ventilation); (10) CO2 testing (e.g., CO2 builds up when there are several persons in a room over several hours with inadequate ventilation); (11) asthma and respiratory ailments (e.g., carpeting should not be in schools, and ductwork needs regular cleaning); (12) UV lights (which kill most organisms in the air that pass through the ductwork); (13) cold temperatures (an adequate thermometer is important); (14) increased complaints about cold when proper ventilation blows air into the room; (15) asbestos testing; (16) radon testing; (17) lead paint testing; (18) water quality; and (19) mold. (SM)