Leadership Matters December 2014

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As a former school
superintendent, I know numerous
factors influence children’s ability
to learn. Students cannot learn
when they are hungry, feel
threatened or have difficulty
breathing.
Asthma is the most common
chronic childhood disease,
affecting more than 227,000
school-age children in Illinois. It
contributes to absenteeism,
which can negatively impact
academic performance. While I
was a superintendent, we had an opportunity to
improve the school environment and make it a better
place to learn and work – without busting the budget.
Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools can lead
to any number of short-term or long-term health
problems for both students and staff. Students tend
to be more susceptible to the risks of poor IAQ
because their bodies ae still developing and they
have relatively higher rates of breathing and
metabolism.
IAQ is becoming increasingly costly for schools
due to the potential for expensive investigations,
higher heating and cooling costs, and increased
liability. More importantly, high rates of absenteeism
due to asthma or other ailments are costs to the
learning environment. High absenteeism can be
disruptive to classrooms and ultimately undermines
the school’s mission of educating children.
However, these problems are not
insurmountable. Many resources can provide
practical and economical solutions to IAQ problems.
In order to improve air quality in schools.
In an attempt to get out ahead of environmental
issues such as the proposed new mandate that
would require schools to install carbon monoxide
detectors, IASA has partnered with Environmental
Consultants, Inc. on a free program to assist school
districts.
The program, called “Tools for Schools,” includes
a kit to help school districts develop a framework for
managing buildings and mitigating environmental
issues.
As part of the program, Environmental
Consultants, Inc. is providing a consultant for IASA
member districts to call upon for assistance. The
consultant, Elizabeth Matoushek, can be reached at
314.809.0816 or by email at
This kit helps schools personnel identify, solve
and prevent indoor air quality in the school
environment. Through a multi-step management
plan and checklists for the entire building, schools
can lower the risk of student exposure to asthma
triggers (especially animals and mold) and other
environmental hazards. The kit covers the buildings
ventilation system, maintenance procedures,
classrooms and food service areas.
Many schools have coordinating teams to
implement the IAQ Tools for Schools. Because air
quality problems can originate anywhere in the
school building, the entire staff is typically informed
and brought into the process, and students can be
involved, too, in curricular areas. Further information
about IAQ curricula can be found on the EPA’s web
site (
Schools now need to be proactive in this issue.
Currently, the only regulatory requirements for
environmental issues facing schools is for asbestos.
While schools have been dealing with the asbestos
issues, other environmental issues have arisen to
include carbon monoxide and mold, among others
such as indoor air quality, lead in water and radon.
All of these environmental issues can affect the
health of the both students and staff.
By adopting a proactive stance, schools can
avoid the embarrassing, unforeseen emergencies
that arise and cause so much public concern. These
emergencies put the districts and administrators
squarely in the public eye for quick action. I submit
that these future emergencies could be avoided or at
least mitigated with a full-scale Indoor Air Quality
Program.
When I discuss indoor air quality, one of the
concerns is “What about the cost?” Whether from
concern about direct expenses related to the
purchase of equipment or indirect expenses
involving staff time, allocating time and effort for a
new project means shifting resources.
Full-scale Indoor Air Quality programs can be
utilized by districts with minimal resources. While
these costs for a IAQ program are relatively minimal,
in an era of tight budgets and restricted school
funding, it becomes important to recognize creative
ways to tap into alternative sources of revenue to
improve the indoor environment.
The IAQ program that our district implemented
was innovative and not expensive to implement.
Environmental issues rise to the forefront in Illinois
Dr. Bill Phillips
IASA Field
Services Director