Healthy Schools Heroes 2006
Westborough (MA) parent Kathy King
School Committee member Bruce Tretter
Every
year to mark the anniversary of the March 18, 1937 Texas School
Explosion, I salute Indoor Air Quality Heroes whose inspirational
leadership protects children from school hazards and unhealthy school
conditions. As many safety champions know, it often takes enormous
persistence and courage to take leadership for safety in schools and
overcome indifference to a wide range of health and safety problems.
My
2006 Healthy Schools Heroes are Westborough (MA) School Committee
member Bruce Tretter and parent Kathy King. Tretter and King have
transformed the Westborough Public Schools into a unique model of
district-wide responsibility, responsiveness and commitment to health
and safety.
Tretter
and King make safety and health a high priority, something that was
overlooked when the burgeoning oil-rich East Texas boomtown built its
new state-of-the-art school.
Today,
69 years since the Texas School Explosion, its story should be part of
our national legacy. Let's make March 18 a national day dedicated to
bringing the "Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion" to our
nation's schools and celebrating the heroes whose leadership saves
children's lives.
BEYOND TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS
Bruce
Tretter calls Westborough's successful process, "Beyond Tools for
Schools" because of its highly detailed IAQ Program Manual and the high
level of support from school staff. The IAQ Program Manual is available
online at no cost at www.westborough.org.
GETTING STARTED
The small Massachusetts community has come a long way.
Kathy
King is the mother of Kellianne who suffered headaches, sinus
infections, chest pains and seizures that were linked to a variety of
indoor air quality problems and chemicals in her school. Once King
realized the school was the source of Kellianne's symptoms, she spoke up
early and persistently for the children of Westborough, confronting
years of official denial and resistance.
King
and another parent, Nancy Meany, a nurse, presented the school
committee with over 500 signatures they had collected from parents and
other community members, including senior citizens, to show support for
adopting the US EPA IAQ Tools for Schools program.
Bruce
Tretter was a relative newcomer to Westborough and had never heard of
the term "IAQ" when the Hastings Elementary Schools was suddenly closed
because of wide-spread upper respiratory symptoms among students and
staff.
Later,
when he heard Kathy King testify about her daughter's severe illness
related to the Hasting's poor indoor air quality, he remembers thinking
she was crazy. Finally, Tretter realized that she was making a lot of
sense and they became allies. When Bruce saw that the school
administration was slow to make changes, he got more involved.
Tretter
served on the school council for two years (2000 and 2001) and then was
elected to the Westborough School Committee in 2001. He pledged to
improve school indoor air quality and specifically, to work on a
district-wide monitoring program for the budget as well as for
facilities. Tretter became and still is chair of the district's IAQ
committee that has evolved into a comprehensive Facilities Committee.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD
"Bruce
has been a very important part of our village," says King. "Bruce saw
the urgent need for change in the way Westborough managed its buildings
and the way the administration communicated. He recognized that the
countless health complaints of staff and students were valid and needed
to be addressed properly."
"After
finding out the facts about our schools' extensive IAQ problems and the
stonewalling for over a decade, Bruce ran for school committee. Bruce
took the IAQ issue to the max. He was not satisfied to stop when the
minimum requirements of an IAQ team were met. He continuously looked for
ways to make the teams more effective."
"The
school children and staff now have the benefit of many watchful people
in the village. They have site-based teams and a central team watching,
inspecting, reporting, and fixing IAQ problems before they become health
issues. These teams work very well with the administration, another
very important partner in the village."
King's
continued input on Westborough's Facility Committee and her ability to
work with the media to promote Westborough's turnaround will inspire
many others to speak up for changes in school design, operations and
maintenance on behalf of children.
THE WESTBOROUGH MODEL
In
the beginning Bruce Tretter and Kathy King looked far and wide for a
school that had an authentic functioning model of the US EPA IAQ Tools
for Schools program, but neither US EPA, the Massachusetts Department of
Public Health, nor any of the healthy schools advocacy groups could
provide one.
So,
as part of Westborough's nascent Indoor Air Quality team, King and
Tretter assembled a district-wide committee, including representatives
from the state teachers' union. They set out to create a plan
appropriate for all six of their district's schools and also readily
adaptable by any school district in the nation.
The
IAQ team sought input from the school staff and administration. The
Massachusetts Teacher Association's training emphasized that the program
would benefit everyone in all of the school buildings. In 2001-2002,
the MTA also contributed their lawyer, Sarah Gibson, who helped make the
program as comprehensive as it is today.
After
a year of drafting and editing, the committee had a district IAQ manual
complete with detailed building checklists, schedules and timelines for
completing the checklists, building inspections, detailed
responsibilities for follow-up and protocols for follow-up reports.
Tretter
describes the program's first year as "slow going" because they didn't
have a template or model to learn form. However, the process improved,
especially with the interest and cooperation of the superintendent and
the new school nurse.
IAQ IS A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Today,
everyone in the Westborough School community shares a high sense of
responsibility for making the IAQ plan work. The average classroom
checklist completion rate across the district has been over 90% over the
past three years. Rooms without a completed checklist are inspected by
the individual school Health and Safety teams who conduct comprehensive
inspections twice a year.
GOOD IAQ EQUALS GOOD PRESS
Eventually
the Westborough School System's bad press changed to good press,
especially after Westborough was recognized by the US EPA in 2003 for
creating an IAQ program that featured district-wide awareness and a
proactive approach.
In
October 2005, Kathy and Kellianne King and the Westborough Schools
exemplary turnaround were featured on ABC's Good Morning America, in the
Boston Globe, and in other news stories around the country.
In
the Good Morning America report: "Girl's Illness Traced to 'Toxic'
School," Kellianne says, "I feel very proud to have a mom that would do
that for her kid instead of just giving up...and not just for me but for
other kids."
LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
A
significant feature of Westborough's process is continuous improvement.
The Facility Committee works to improve the checklist procedure. At
first, staff members were asked to fill out separate autumn and spring
classroom checklists.
Later, staff members were reissued their completed
autumn checklist and asked to note any changes on a condensed spring
checklist. This new procedure reinforces awareness of room conditions
noted previously. It also allows for a more accurate comparison season
to season and contributes to the sustained high rate of checklist
completion.
Each
school's checklists are used to create a report about facility
conditions and maintenance at each school. Following a review of the
checklists, the district facility committee does extensive
walk-throughs. Instead of meeting only in the central administration
building, the committee holds district meetings in each of the school
buildings on a rotating basis. This allows the committee to see first
hand the problems cited in the report. They also see how repairs are
going, for example, the remediation of a water infiltration/plumbing
problem in the recently constructed Mill Pond School.
There
are also many examples of the school systems heightened responsiveness.
Teachers fill out maintenance requests regularly. When diesel fumes
from idling equipment in an attached garage space were getting into the
school, the principal stopped it immediately. In the new K-3 school, the
architect designed the room for the copy machine to vent fumes into the
school hall. Now the school is going to relocate the machine to a more
properly ventilated location.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Tretter identifies three keys to IAQ success: persistence, awareness and communication.'
Persistence
was required to bring all parties on board and to implement the plan
and to keep improving it. Now everyone understands that continuous
vigilance is required to ensure the system responds appropriately to
practical operational needs as they arise.
Awareness:
At first some staff members expressed con-erns that the IAQ plan was
creating a program only to address problems at one school. However,
staff learned that IAQ problems can arise in any building and that
proper prevention and mitigation of problems relies on properly trained
and prepared staff.
The
program has proven its value in responding to indoor air quality
problems at other schools, especially those undergoing construction and
renovation projects. Although unforeseen at the outset, the awareness of
IAQ solutions, especially the importance of building maintenance, has
been especially appreciated as the district has budgetary constraints.
Communication:
Problems are shared, not hushed up. From the beginning, the program
depended on comprehensive, straightforward and open communication among
all members of the school community.
Everyone
knows that the future success of the program depends on maintaining
good communication among the district facilities committee, each
school's health and safety team and building staff, the school
department and school committee.
Communication maintains the benefits of
the IAQ program even as committee members and school personnel change.
Implementation
of Westborough's program has increased IAQ awareness so it is now a
cornerstone of school and community culture. Westborough is a true model
of success. Bruce Tretter is eager and willing to mentor other school
districts.
THERE IS A HERO IN YOUR AREA.
It could be you!
Bring
the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to your school. In
response to the growing number of accidents such as mercury spills and
lab injuries, many states as well as the US EPA Schools Chemical
Cleanout Campaign have created resources and programs to help schools
conduct chemical clean-outs and to provide training to staff to
implement the necessary chemical management programs. They can be allies
and resources to anyone who takes leadership for school safety.
For other references and resources see What You Can Do online at www.healthy-kid.info.
Find information and suggestions for school programs and events to
improve school safety and security, plus links to national and state
resources and model programs.
Let me know how it goes.
Ellie Goldberg, healthykids@rcn.com
March 01, 2006
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