Home » Feature Story

Feature Story

Going Green to Achieve Healthy, High Performance Schools

"Going green" means more than just celebrating St. Patrick's Day this month. Increasingly, schools are reviewing their physical environments to improve student and teacher health and enhance academic performance.

The movement to create "green" buildings-also called high performance buildings or sustainable design--began in the 1990's. School officials, parent and school health advocates joined the movement. After all, both teachers and children spend six or more hours a day in a school building. Over half of U.S. schools have indoor air pollution problems, according to the Healthy Schools Coalition. At a minimum, asthma and other respiratory problems could result.

There is no universally-accepted definition of a "green school," according to an expert panel convened by the Institute of Medicine to review and assess the health and productivity benefits of green schools. Its 2006 report, Green Schools: Attributes for Health and Learning, concluded that:

Overall, dryness, good indoor air quality and thermal comfort, quietness, well-maintained systems, and cleanliness of buildings each contribute to student and teacher health, learning, and productivity.

The 2001 No Child Left Behind legislation includes a provision for Healthy, High Performance Schools (SubPart 18) to help schools provide healthy environments for students. Unfortunately, Congress never appropriated the funds to implement this provision.

In December 2007, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The new law authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promote healthy school environments by working with state agencies, creating federal guidelines for where schools should be located, and developing model guidelines for children's environmental health in schools.

In the meantime, here are suggestions from the Green School Initiative about what you can do to "green your school":

• Establish a Green Team or Eco-Committee composed of students, teachers, janitors, facilities managers, parents and/or school board members to make recommendations and facilitate communication with the school community. Student involvement is critical.
• Adopt and Publicize an Environmental Vision Statement or Planet Pledge that sets out what the Green Team wants to accomplish.
• Conduct a School Environmental Survey or Audit. Depending on your goals, the audit may include assessing the level of waste from school lunch, checking for leaky faucets, or measuring noise levels. The Back to School Environmental Checklist from the Be Safe Healthy Schools program can give you some tips on what to look for.
• Create a Green School Action Plan with goals and objectives, based on the results of the environmental survey. Action plans might address setting up a recycling program, establishing a school garden, or adopting less toxic, eco-friendly cleaning products.
• Monitor and Evaluate Progress by conducting an annual audit to monitor if the program is achieving its goals and objectives.
• Integrate Greening into the Curriculum in all subject areas. If environmental education is not already part of the school curriculum, the Green Team can recommend how environmental themes can be incorporated into existing curricula.
• Inform, Involve and Celebrate! Communicating and publicizing the achievements of the green initiative is a great way to keep everyone involved and committed.