Back to School: Doing Your IAQ Homework

Back-to-school season is here! Starting the school year means different things to different people. For most teachers, it means having lesson plans prepared, setting up the classroom to welcome students and, of course, making sure the classroom is conducive to learning. For maintenance and operations staff, back-to-school is a perfect time to brush up on IAQ knowledge. Watching EPA’s IAQ Master Class Professional Training Webinar Series and IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series on-demand is a good way to boost your knowledge or take a refresher course on IAQ management tactics, hearing from technical experts what to look for in your facilities when conducting your walkthroughs. The IAQ Master Class Professional Training Webinar Series provides the comprehensive approaches you need to manage your school facility’s IAQ. These webinars help you start, improve or sustain an IAQ management program.

Don’t forget to download your certificate of completion after each webinar so that you can be recognized for your knowledge acquisition! Viewers who complete all 10 webinars are acknowledged with a certificate of IAQ mastery.

For a more in-depth look at school IAQ management, check out the IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series. This series builds off of the IAQ management and best practices information provided by the IAQ Master Class webinars. The IAQ Knowledge-to-Action webinars help to solidify IAQ management tactics through technical training. IAQ Master Class members are not required to watch the IAQ Knowledge-to-Action webinars, but they are encouraged to take advantage of the series to reinforce what they learned in the IAQ Master Class Webinar Series. Furthermore, the IAQ Knowledge-to-Action series offers continuing education credits to those viewers who request them.

Looking for tips on how to be IAQ-ready?

Start with the IAQ Master Class webinar Creating Healthy Indoor Environments in Schools: The Knowledge Network and Actions You Need and the IAQ Knowledge-to-Action webinar Healthy Schools, Healthy Students: Taking Action to Improve IAQ in Your School District. These two webinars are designed to provide the knowledge base and background necessary to successfully implement the IAQ Tools for Schools Framework for Effective School IAQ Management and systematically address IAQ issues with policies and practices that can help your school save money and improve health. For more general information on IAQ and schools, visit www.epa.gov/iaq-schools.

What we breathe indoors matters. In schools, what we breathe and are exposed to can affect both health and academic performance. Fortunately, there is a lot we can do to ensure that the quality of our air indoors is safe and provides a healthy place for students to learn. As you kick off a new school year, keep the following tips in mind to reinvigorate your school’s IAQ management routine and to ensure the new school year is as healthy, productive and successful as possible! Many parties play a role in ensuring that the air quality in schools is healthy. School maintenance staff, teachers, parents, student groups and local public health practitioners can all use these tips to maintain or create a healthy learning environment.

TIPS:

• Conduct a Walkthrough of Your Classrooms. Use the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App Teacher’s Classroom Checklist as a guide to ensure that your classrooms are clean and safe for your students. Notify facilities staff if you notice any signs of mold, moisture or other problems.
• Control Asthma Triggers. Vacuum carpets and keep fabric-covered items clean to eliminate dust mites, which may trigger asthma and allergic reactions. Keep cockroaches and pests out of the classroom by eating food only in designated areas and keeping it stored in airtight containers.
• Ensure Adequate Ventilation. Properly operating HVAC systems are vital for maintaining good IAQ. To guarantee sufficient airflow and eliminate sources of moisture, keep all items off of HVAC units. Use the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App Ventilation Checklist as a reference when checking for pollutant sources.
• Speak With a School Nurse About Tracking IAQ-Related Symptoms. By using the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App Health Officer/School Nurse Checklist, your school nurse may be able to help identify environmental issues in your school. For example, a nurse can record reliever medication usage by children with asthma and identify IAQ-related symptoms. Tracking data also can help evaluate your school’s successes by implementing safe and effective IAQ management strategies.
• Engage Parents All Year Long. Use newsletters or website updates to communicate about your efforts and ensure clean, safe learning environments. Encourage parents to ask questions about IAQ.
• Learn How to Effectively Communicate With School Officials and Teachers. Participate in your school’s IAQ committee. If your child has asthma, you can take steps to reduce their risk of exposure to environmental asthma triggers in schools. Communicate what you know with your child’s school teachers and nurses, and be sure your child has an Asthma Action Plan at school.

Want to put these tips to action? EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit and School IAQ Assessment Mobile App make it easy. They contain checklists for teachers, administrative staff, school nurses, school officials and maintenance staff that make it simple to keep track of the actions needed to achieve a healthy school environment. You can download the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App and click on the checklists or download them in PDF or Word formats utilizing the IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit, which can be tailored to fit your school’s needs.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Indoor Environment Group recently published a literature review on IAQ, ventilation and school performance that reveals that school ventilation rates often do not meet the minimums specified in standards. Rates of ventilation in school buildings influence air pollutant concentrations, and EPA’s studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times—and occasionally more than 100 times—higher than outdoor levels. Appropriate ventilation is critical for healthy IAQ, and compelling evidence shows that student performance increases with increased ventilation rates. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s review provides evidence helpful to making the case for proactive IAQ and ventilation management.

To make your case for IAQ management and proper ventilation, start with the IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit. The kit provides best practices, industry guidelines and a sample IAQ management plan. Combine the kit with the Framework for Effective School IAQ Management to design an effective program for your school. For more information on school ventilation and IAQ, check out the webinars Fresh Air: Optimal HVAC Management for Improved Health and Better Together: Gaining Buy-In for Optimal Ventilation.