HEALTHY KIDS HEROES 2018

Healthy Kids Heroes 2018: Speaking Up for Safety

Every year, to mark the anniversary of the 1937 Texas School Explosion, I salute inspirational leaders who demonstrate an extraordinary sense of responsibility and commitment to the safety of children and their communities. 

The Healthy Kids Hero Award was created as an annual opportunity to remember the 1937 tragedy — a gas explosion that killed more than 300 people, mostly students, in their new state-of-the-art public school
where no expense had been spared except when it came to safety.

One lesson of the 1937 tragedy is that a safe quality environment depends on champions dedicated to making safety and health a priority.

For 2018, there are three heroes. Each is known for effective advocacy and professionalism, the ability to inspire others, and especially for being compassionate, genuine and kind.

Their work illustrates the power of allies who share a sense of personal responsibility and purpose. They each contribute countless hours of professional and personal time as resources and mentors to their communities and colleagues.

• ​Safeguarding Children and Communities. Dr. Curt Nordgaard is one of the founders of the Massachusetts Health Professionals for Clean Energy.

• ​IPM is a Team Effort  Kathy Murray is Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Specialist at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. 

• To Make Every Child Feel Safe Every Day​ John Obremski is the Principal of Layette Elementary School, Everett, MA.

Step Back in Time - Videos

1) The New London Story 5:24 March 18, 1937 started out like any other day in the small east Texas town of New London... People did not want to talk about what happened here for forty years...

2) When Even Angels Wept  Trailer  3:00.  The trailer of a  documentary film (2009) by Kristin Beauchamp includes interviews of those who lived to tell their story from that fateful day. Year after year may pass, but their ageless recollections still stand the test of time. 

3) New London Museum 4:23  New London, Texas, was known as the richest independent school district in the United States... Experience the tragedy and triumph as you step back in time with a visit to the London Museum in New London, Texas.  MORE  

 

4) East Texas Oil Museum 4:59  Welcome to the East Texas Oil Museum, located on the campus of Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas. www.easttexasoilmuseum.com. 

This fascinating museum houses the authentic re-creation of oil discovery and production in the early 1930s from the largest oil field inside U.S. boundaries. Here, visitors see the people, their towns, their personal habits, their tools and their pastimes -- all colorfully depicted in dioramas, movies, sound presentations and actual antiques donated by East Texas citizens.

Step across the city limits into Boomtown, USA, --a full scaletown full of stores, people, animals, and machinery depicting the lively activity of a town booming in oil... MORE

SURVIVOR STORY: Jimmie Robinson

The 1937 TX School Explosion: Survivor Story: Jimmie Robinson...

Mar 02, 2010

Jimmie Robinson, a third grader in 1937, had walked over to the school “to see the Mexican hat dancers” at a PTA-sponsored event. She was buried in the rubble, with a half-dollar sized hole in her forehead. Her sister Elsie ... MORE

  
Jimmie Robinson Interview...

Aug 12, 2010

Jimmie Robinson, Survivor, interview on Pittsburgh radio KDKA Sept 4, 2010. On Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 7am EST David M. Brown, co-author of Gone at 3:17, will be on the Rob Pratte Show on Pittsburgh's KDKA ...  MORE

Break the Silence.  

Tell her story. Make March 18 a day to remember the 1937 Texas School Explosion and celebrate today's heroes who work to protect children from hazards and unhealthy school conditions.

Design an annual exhibit, essay contest, or classroom program about the 1937 New London School Explosion.

Today, no one can fix the broken hearts of New London, Texas but the survivors all take some measure of healing and consolation not only in sharing their stories but also in knowing that their stories teach the importance of taking precautions to prevent a similar tragedy from shattering other school communities. 

Go to the New London School Explosion website to read the stories of the survivors, witnesses and family members of the victims.

Read stories at this link: Recollections.  

        Read about Healthy Schools Heroes 2004 - 2013

The Texas Engineering License 

Photo: Ellie Goldberg, 2005

Purpose and History (http://engineers.texas.gov/lic.htm)

The Engineering Registration Act (Article 3271a, V.A.T.S.) was enacted as the result of a tragic school explosion at New London, Texas, in 1937. In response to concerns that the public could not identify who was qualified to practice engineering, the 45th Texas Legislature passed the Act as emergency legislation and it became law when signed by the Governor on May 28, 1937. The 59th Texas Legislature rewrote the original Registration Act. This Act became law on August 30, 1965, and was called the "Texas Engineering Practice Act."

The authors of the Texas Engineering Practice Act included the following statement in Section 1001.004 of the Act:

"The legislature recognizes the vital impact that the rapid advance of knowledge of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences as applied in the practice of engineering has on the lives, property, economy, and security of state residents and the national defense. The purpose of this chapter is to: protect the public health, safety, and welfare; enable the state and the public to identify persons authorized to practice engineering in this state; and fix responsibility for work done or services or acts performed in the practice of engineering. The legislature intends that: the privilege of practicing engineering be entrusted only to a person licensed and practicing under this chapter; only a person licensed under this chapter may: engage in the practice of engineering; be represented in any way as any kind of “engineer”; or make any professional use of the term “engineer”; and this chapter will be strictly complied with and enforced. This chapter shall be liberally construed to carry out the intent of the legislature."

It therefore becomes apparent that this legislation was not enacted to restrict the number of practitioners, but rather to "safeguard life, health, and property and protect the public welfare." 

The Texas Board of Professional Engineers is authorized and required to license those individuals who are qualified by law to practice engineering, and to regulate the practice of engineering in Texas. To accomplish this mission, the Legislature further empowered the Board to make and enforce the rules dealing with licensing, compliance and enforcement, and standards of conduct and ethics.

Pipelines, Liability and Insurance?

...In 1937, about 300 schoolchildren and teachers died in the New London school tragedy, the worst gas explosion in Texas history. Lawsuits brought by parents and families against the school district and the Parade Gasoline Company, whose leaking gas fueled the explosion, were all dismissed when the court found no liability.

Things have not improved much today...EG

A Perilous Grid - Fort Worth Weekly

They crisscross the country in a complex maze just below ground level, carrying flammable, dangerous, and highly polluting liquids and poisonous gases. They are capable of catastrophic failures that have killed people and devastated property. They corrode, they leak, they explode — and they do it with some regularity.

The millions of miles of gas and oil pipelines in the United States are vital to every aspect of modern life, but they are also perilous. And companies that own them are not required by state or federal law to carry insurance on one inch of those lines. Most Texas cities, including Fort Worth, require insurance policies, but usually in amounts that wouldn’t cover the damages from any sizable pipeline failure. ...

Read more: http://www.fwweekly.com/2013/06/12/a-perilous-grid/

Announcing Healthy Schools Heroes 2013

Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion
Contact: Ellie Goldberg, M.Ed.  617 965-9637

ellie.goldberg@healthy-kids.info  

  

Every year to mark the anniversary of the March 18, 1937 Texas School Explosion, I salute Healthy Schools Heroes whose extraordinary sense of responsibility and leadership is dedicated to protecting students and staff from chemical hazards and unhealthy school conditions.
 
This year’s Healthy Schools Heroes are both widely admired as teachers, consultants and colleagues and respected for their proven ability to help schools achieve excellence in science, pest control, and environmental quality. By example, each Hero is an inspiration to break the silence about school hazards and bring the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to today’s schools.  

Healthy Schools Heroes 2013

 

“A life line”  Linda Stroud, Ph.D.,  

President, Science & Safety Consulting Service

Fayetteville, NC  

“A force multiplier” Janet A. Hurley, MPA, 
 Extension Program Specialist II - School IPM
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service 

Safety is a priority. Like previous Healthy Schools Heroes, their unshakable priority is safety. 

Continuous Improvement. Their websites, newsletters, manuals, workshops and other resources testify to their values as well as their deep understanding of the daily decisions and challenges of managing classrooms, budgets, facility maintenance and operations and community relations. They are tireless in their commitment to giving people the knowledge and competencies to enable them to do a good job and a safe job. 
 
Partnerships. Each is remarkably gifted in building enduring personal and high value professional relationships in many roles at many levels. They partner with school district administrators, science teachers, parent groups, facility managers and custodians, academic and research institutions and professional organizations. Their approach to training and consulting strengthens multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, and organizational connections. 

Accountability. They also have been instrumental in achieving the public policy and legislative initiatives that provide accountability. Their expert guidance is repeatedly called on to help schools resolve hazardous chemistry lab conditions or pest control problems, to help schools meet codes and regulations, and even win national recognition.
 
Professional Development. Linda does assessments, training and ongoing professional development to help schools comply with the North Carolina’s Act to Implement Science Safety Measures in the Public Schools. It requires local boards of education to certify that schools are properly equipped with safety equipment and pre-service teachers are properly educated on safety measures. Janet works to promote high quality implementation of the Texas' School Integrated Pest Management (IPM) law. It requires all school districts to have an integrated pest management program (IPM) and a designated IPM Coordinator.  

No one is alone. They listen. They learn. They teach. They care. They keep in touch. No one is alone with a question or a problem because Linda Stroud and Janet Hurley are only a phone call or email away.  

Janet Hurley and Linda Stroud both emphasize the value of face-to-face conversations as the key to their effectiveness and their ongoing satisfaction in their work. They have thousands of grateful admirers who benefit from their inspiring leadership and reap the daily reward of safer children and safer schools.  

Healthy Schools Heroes 2013

“A life line”  Linda Stroud, Ph.D.

and

“A force multiplier” Janet A. Hurley, MPA

Inspiring Nominees. Two additional inspiring professionals deserve special recognition for reaching out as advocates for precautionary action and best practices in schools.

Aimee Code, NCAP, Eugene, OR

and John Gann, Keller ISD, TX

 Healthy Schools Heroes 2013 - 2004

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Background  The Healthy Schools Hero Award is part of a campaign to make March 18 a day to remember the worst school disaster in American history, a gas explosion that killed more than 300 people, mostly students, just minutes before the end of the day in their new state-of-the-art public school.

A case study and cautionary tale. This story needs to be part of our national legacy because the flaws that led to the tragic explosion are still too common in many schools today – false economies in school design, building, and operations, unheeded warnings and indifference to hazards and precautionary measures.

The Unfinished Legacy  As a result of the disaster, a law was passed to require adding a warning odor to natural gas, thus saving millions of lives all over the world. However, other important recommendations of the 1937 Court of Inquiry are still needed in most 21st century schools -- technically trained administrators for modern school systems, regular inspections and education about hazards, and a comprehensive safety code.

Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion is dedicated to making March 18 a day to honor the leaders who teach safely and teach safety and to inspire all schools to prioritize the values and technical skills necessary for living safely with 21st century chemicals and technology.

For more information contact: Ellie Goldberg, ellie.goldberg@healthy-kids.info

The Lives Unlived in Newtown
   By Sara Mosle, NYTIMES Magazine

On a country highway in the tiny town of New London, Tex., sits a small tea shop and a museum that houses the collective grief of a community that lost its children. On the afternoon of March 18, 1937, the London Consolidated School exploded a few minutes before classes were to be dismissed. An odorless cloud of natural gas had leaked from a faulty heating system into the building’s unventilated basement and ignited, most likely from a spark from the school’s shop class.

According to witnesses, the school appeared to blast off its foundation and hover in the air before collapsing again, generating clouds of ash and debris that plowed across the schoolyard. Scores of mothers, who had been attending a P.T.A. meeting in the nearby wood gymnasium, staggered out into a blizzard of whirling papers and pulverized mortar. When the dust settled, approximately 300 people were dead, nearly all of them children...

Read the article: The Lives Unlived in Newtown

...In the months before the 1937 explosion, state fire regulators tried to raise the alarm about the perils of natural gas, but it took the death of schoolchildren to impel politicians to act. Within days of the disaster, Texas legislators went into emergency session to promote the addition of a “malodorant” to natural gas, which has since saved countless lives.
 

Who Is Your 2013 Healthy Schools Hero?
Please post. Please forward

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ellie Goldberg, M.Ed., healthykids@rcn.com 

Attn:  Science educators, STEM advocates, professionals in public health, school health, environmental health, facilities management, IAQ, IPM, health and safety, lab safety, school security, emergency and risk management, asthma educators, first responders, school administrators, nurses, advocates, parents and students.

Do you know someone whose sense of responsibility, inspirational leadership, and exemplary persistence and courage protects children from school hazards and unhealthy school conditions?

Send your hero's name, email/phone #,
and your hero's story by February 10, 2013
to Ellie Goldberg at healthykids@rcn.com

 

Lessons Learned. Lives Saved.  

The Healthy Kids Healthy Schools Hero Award was created as an annual opportunity to tell the story of the 1937 Texas School Explosion and to inspire leadership and partnerships to protect children from the chemical hazards and unhealthy conditions in today's schools. (HEROES 2012 - 2004)

March 18, 2013 is the 76th anniversary of the 1937 Texas School Explosion.  The 1937 Texas School Explosion was the worst school disaster in American history. It was a gas explosion that killed more than 300 people, mostly students, just minutes before the end of the day in their new state-of-the-art public school. No expense had been spared except when it came to safety.

The story of the 1937 Texas School Explosion needs to be part of our national legacy because the decision-making that led to the 1937 explosion is the same type of decision-making in too many schools today.  The story can inspire us to break the silence about school hazards and to prioritize the values and technical skills we need to live safely with 21st century chemicals and technology.

Send your 2013 hero's name, contact information, and your hero's story by February 10, 2013 to Ellie Goldberg at healthykids@rcn.com

Lessons of the 1937 TX School Explosion
• "Set aside a special day each year as a memorial..."
• Leadership Needed
• Bring the Lessons to Your School
• New London School Explosion

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Photo (E. Goldberg,2005): Cenotaph Commemorates Memory of Those Who Died in School Blast March 18, 1937  http://www.newlondonschool.org/Cenotaph.htm