Ailing Schools

Regular Upkeep is Key to Upholding Building Standards

By Dave Arnold

It is not as apparent as a leaky roof, but poor air quality at school can cause a lot of trouble. Over the years, I was getting the impression that more children than usual were suffering from asthma at my elementary school.

Student health records are confidential, so I couldn’t research the exact number of asthma cases from one year to the next. Still, the incidents of students with labored breathing and other respiratory problems seemed to increase as of late.

I couldn't help but wonder what had caused the increase, and if so true, was our school’s air quality a contributing factor.

In 1995, a report by the U.S. General Accounting Office concluded that more than half of the nation’s schools have indoor air-quality problems. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 55 million Americans – one in five – spend their days in elementary and secondary schools.

Repair or Replace

At Brownstown Elementary School in Illinois, where I work as head custodian, teachers all agreed that students seemed to be coughing more even during the warmer months.
Having allergies myself, I have some insight on what these students endure. As I observed a couple students with their inhalers, I wondered how healthy of an environment our school really is. And more importantly, was a bad situation at school getting worse.

One-third of the nation's schools need major repairs or replacement, according to a 2000 study by the National Education Association (NEA). Leaky roofs, mold, poor ventilation and filthy carpets are present in many of those buildings.

When one of our students started to suffer to the point that she was no longer able to attend school, we contacted the EPA. They soon installed air monitors throughout the school and did a complete evaluation of our air quality.

The good news was that our air was acceptable. The bad news was that the girl suffering from severe breathing difficulties could still not breathe comfortably at school. After a multitude of breathing and allergy tests, it was determined that the problems were not school related.

But, what about other students who had breathing problems?

Taking Measures

The EPA said our air was “acceptable.” As I cleaned the mountain of chalk dust that accumulated in the chalk trays and on the chalkboard, it didn’t take a genius to understand that the white powdery stuff floating in the air wasn’t helping our efforts.
I also saw that our computer screens were collecting dust more than usual. My co-workers and I all agreed that we needed to make the following improvements:

• Change filters in our heating- ventilation system as often as needed as opposed to twice a year as we had been doing.
  
• Purchase new vacuum cleaners with improved multi filtration systems.
  
• Purchase a new buffer with a built in vacuum cleaner.
  
• Install dustless, dry erase boards.

Any one of these improvements alone would not have made a noticeable difference. But combined, they worked. One sign of our success was that absenteeism decreased for the first time in many years.

According to the American Institute of Architects, one out of every three schools is in dire need of repair. And, as I talk with custodians from across the nation and read articles, I know that mold is a big problem in our nation’s schools.

More Money

According to NEA officials, fixing or rebuilding the nation’s sick and crumbling schools, along with installing new technology, would cost about $322 billion.

Though the types and causes of mold vary from one school to another, I believe that the air quality problems can all be traced to one common cause, M-O-N-E-Y. Or, I should say the lack of money.

Most of our nation’s school buildings have been built with help of a state grant or a local tax referendum. After years of operation, they start to deteriorate because the funds aren’t there to keep them properly maintained. Since these are educational facilities, education receives first priority in budgeting dollars. Maintenance is placed on the back burner until it becomes a crisis.

As our friend NEA President Reg Weaver has said many times: “Money isn’t the root of all evil. It is the lack of money that is the root of all evil. Especially when it comes to the lack of money for our schools.”

(Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois.)

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NEA or its affiliates.