Green Strides Webinar Series: Discovery Why Good IAQ is Essential for Green and Healthy Schools

June 21, 2012 

Operator:	You are now currently connected to the Green Strides Webinar Series:  Discover Why Good IAQ is Essential for Green and Healthy Schools. And now we present our host, Andrea Falken.

Andrea Falken:	Thank you. This is Andrea Falken. I'm the Director of the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools. Welcome to the first in our series of webinars called the Green Strides Webinar Series.

	And this series is something that we are operating in parallel to our award to help all schools learn about the many tools and resources that can help you ensure that you are reducing environmental impact and cost, improving health and wellness, and teaching effective environmental and sustainability literacy including some civic engagement and green technology. So we'll be varying topics over the course of the next year and offering very regular webinars. And we will aim to keep our time and day consistent and we'll go into our upcoming schedule a little bit at the end here today.

	The series varies. It will be opened to school officials, state and district education officials and with topics of all types several times a month. And this first one we have today is on indoor air quality (IAQ), as you know. Thank you so much for joining us and I'll turn it over to my colleagues over at the Environmental Protection Agency who will be presenting on IAQ in schools today.

Tracy Enger:	Thank you, Andrea. This is Tracy Washington Enger. I'm with the U.S. Environment Protection Agency and specifically in the Indoor Environment Division. And as Andrea said, I'm going to have an opportunity to facilitate the call today and speak a bit on the importance of indoor air quality. In general, to give you framing which you can use to listen to our following speakers who are both from school districts, Richard Cox who is the Environmental Safety Coordinator from Montgomery County Public Schools near here in Maryland, and Shelley R. Bengtson who is the Environmental Specialist at Omaha Public Schools in Nebraska.

	And I just want to say how excited we are at EPA to be a part of this webinar series and in fact to be the inaugural webinar in the Green Strides Series. And one of the things that's so exciting for us here at EPA is we've been endeavoring to help create the healthiest, safest indoor environments in schools since about 1994 when we launched the guidance that we'll talk about a bit here. And it's really exciting for us to be collaborating in this way with another subtle agency, the Department of Education (ED), and to be able to see where our missions really are integrated and the way that they coincide in order to support all of our stakeholders in the work that you're doing to create green healthy schools, but also to create the healthiest and safest environment and the best possible learning environment. And so this is one of those magical kinds of sweet spots where our missions between these agencies have come together in such a cohesive way. 

	And well you see, it's not an accident that our two speakers today, both of their school districts have won the Green Ribbons Award from the Department of Education. And previously, also, our environmental excellence award for IAQ Management. That's not by accident. It has a lot to do with the fact that those two areas of intersection – creating the best and healthiest indoor environment and having great academic performance and productivity outcomes – are related. And the fact that both of them are winners of these awards demonstrates that very clearly.

	So you're going to get a chance to see them talk about the importance of IAQ, as well as other environmental health issues, and having that system in place and the impact that it has on the educational missions that they're about there, as well as the health outcomes for students and staff. And a real grounding also in the importance and the issues related to IAQ and how you too can be taking steps from wherever you're sitting, whether it's in a school district or in a state program or in a non-profit organization, to help ensure those same kinds of healthy productive environment in schools.

	
As we talk about the Green Ribbons Schools Award criteria and when you look at the three pillars, I find that those three pillars, and I think you'll find that too, you'll discover they are really a part of the broad construct for environmental interventions in schools. And so what we find is that when you look to impact your environment within a school or school district, it will have impacts on energy, on health and on education – all three. And so those three pillars really become the broad based of all environmental interventions.

	And the place that we're really going to focus on here as we talk about IAQ and indoor quality management programs is really around Pillar Two, healthy school environments, but recognizing that you can't address one of these without it having a positive or negative impacts on all three, so doing a laser-like focus on healthy school environments, and recognizing that there are impacts on all of the pillars, wherever it is that you enter into the system. And we're going to talk about how we can help school districts be more proficient at addressing the issues around Pillar Two, and therefore having an impact on the other pillars as well.

	So quickly, I'd like to do a little polling with you so that we can understand a little bit more about what it is that we're speaking into. And so it's going to help me to understand what your impression is of Pillar Two. So what comes to mind for you when you think of Pillar Two, Healthy School Environments, because that can be a pretty broad thing. So when you see it, what immediately comes to mind for you?  Is it, A: a comprehensive environmental indoor air quality management system. B: high nutritional standards. C: effective physical education requirements. D: all of the above. Or, E: something different?  So I'm going to give you a moment to respond to the poll and see what comes to mind for you when you think of Pillar Two in terms of the healthy school environment. What constitutes that for you?

	Oh, OK, you guys are really good at this technology, very quickly getting up to nearly 100 percent of you having voted. We're going to leave it up for a couple more seconds. And OK, you can go ahead and close the polling. And we're going to take a look at what we have here in terms of our results.

	And so this warms the cockles of my little EPA heart to see that at least, almost 40 percent of you, think of the comprehensive IAQ Management Program. And then 62 percent of you see that the whole comprehensive component there of healthy schools. That is, you know that the physical IAQ environment, nutritional standards, physical health, all come together. And so I think – and, you know, of course, you're all right – it is all of those things.  And we are going to focus specifically around how we have the best most positive impact on IAQ. OK?

	So, when we look at the cross-section between IAQ and the Pillar Two of the Green Ribbons Schools Program will take a little bit deeper dive into what Pillar Two looks like and the criteria. And you see the criteria focuses around the two elements – integrated school environmental health program and nutrition and fitness standards. And so those of you who said it's all of those things, you're absolutely right. In terms of Pillar Two and in terms of Green Ribbons Schools, they were looking at school health as it integrates all of those things.

	We will take a little bit deeper look at part A, which is where a lot of the work falls that we've done in the indoor air environment division here at EPA. One of the things that really comes forward for us and that we're excited about being underscored in the Green Ribbons Schools Program is the integrated approach because that is the place that we have really invested by helping to build school district muscle and being able to address the issues that you see here in HVAC management and ventilation, you know, contaminate controls.  You will see elements of that in all of our guidance, but you will also see how we help you create that integrated approach to school environmental health that recognizes the need for a system to address these various issues for health and safety.

	And I know that I'm probably preaching to the choir here for a lot of you, but it is really important for us to think about why this is important because there are so many competing things that we're trying to do in our educational system today. So why is it really important to have this focus on healthy school environment? And it's because it really, when you look at this, the importance of our building structures that people are in, it is important because of how they impact the people who are in them because it impacts their performance. And because of those three things, not just the building but the building and the impact it has on the people, and the way that those people can do what they're there to do, whether it's learn or teach or what have you.

	It really is important to have all three of those elements together. And that becomes really critical because we know that 90 percent of our days in general are spent indoors. This is the part of the human condition. This is the human construct. So our indoor environments are human made. They're how we live and we do a lot of our living in them. So IAQ becomes one of the most critical elements in creating healthy human environments. And so we want to make sure that we have good IAQ and to take care of all of the people and the occupants that are in this building. So when we think about occupant health, one of the most important things, especially when we're talking about schools, is to recognize that in addition to having adult staff in schools and adult folks and administrators in schools, that we have a lot of kids in schools. And kids are not just little adults. They function differently. And so the health of the occupants becomes really critical when we start looking at IAQ especially. Kids breathe more than adults do. They breathe faster. They breathe deeper. Their immune systems are still developing. And they really depend on us to manage the environment that they're in to make it as safe as possible. 

	And while kids are not little adults, the adults that are in this building can be in there for many, many, many, many years more than the kids are there. So, looking at the cross section between IAQ and health, recognizing that one of the biggest concerns there that you're going to see certainly is asthma and asthma being related to absenteeism, which of course is related to academic performance. And so when we start looking at academic performance, what we know is we have some good science around the relationship between good IAQ and performance. And while this is good science, looking at the way that it impacts things like our ability to concentrate and how we can perform based on how much air is in the room and the dampness, can have a relationship with respiratory illness. This is good science, but people this is not rocket science.  This is common same stuff, right? So we know these things, but we also have the science to help back it up.

	The other thing that the health issue is related to in addition to academic performance is around funding. It's around the cost. And we know that attendance of both students and staff is related to our bottom lines in school districts. It's related to the money and the funding and we know that. We also know from just your own home, from just your own home environment that preventive measures pay off. So when we invest in proactive preventative measures, in the end, they pay off on the bottom line. OK?

	So I just want to take you through a quick tutorial of indoor air quality before we move on to our speakers. And we're going to talk a bit about what it is and then about the guidance that we have to help take control at. So, when you look at it, and I've learned a lot about IAQ over the past decade and a half or so, but I want you to understand that really, while IAQ can be complex, it really is really not all that complicated. It comes down to a few factors interact with one another. You will always have a pollutant when you're dealing with IAQ.  You'll always have a pathway for that pollutant to get to the people. And it really is just a matter of how those three things are functioning together that determines whether or not you have good IAQ. So those are really the three things to be thinking about, pollutants, pathways and people. Right?

	And so what are some of the impacts, and what are some of the pollutants, and what are some of the issues that we want to address? Well we'd look at some of those components that we want to focus on and here is a big one that you're going to find in the guidance that we provide to help you bring IAQ under control and make it the best in your school and school district: improper HVAC, really, proper HVAC maintenance, teaching you how it is that you go about making sure that your HVAC systems, which are really the lungs of your building, are maintained appropriately.

	The next one being mold and moisture, which we know is one of those ubiquitous issues and if you think of nothing else around this issue, just remember mold and moisture always hand in hand, you cannot address one without addressing the other. Integrated pest management, which is one of the things that we see, you know, repeatedly and it has a lot to do with and is also related to the next one which is cleaning and maintenance, which is really what people see from the very beginning. They're going to judge everything that you do in terms of indoor air quality often on how well you're able to manage cleaning and maintenance in your building.

	The next thing is material selections. You know, looking at what materials you're choosing, how you're choosing them, and not just for cleaning and for storage and those kinds of thing, but everything you put in your building from the ceiling to the floor, how making those materials selection has an impact on the air that you're breathing and the performance that's occurring within your schools. And then, of course, source control which is related right back to that first thing we talked about in terms of pollutants. If you can control it coming in to the building from the beginning then you have a lot less trouble managing it once it's there. So how could you deal with source control, OK?

	So those are the big ones. And so I'm interested in hearing from you after you hear those things. Based on your experience in your work, which of these things are the most pressing indoor air quality issues at your school or in school that you worked with, OK? Is it providing, you know, quality HVAC and ventilation, controlling mold and moisture, using integrated pest management systems, controlling source contaminants before they even kind of come in, or is it using healthy cleaning methods and materials? What right now is the thing that is really doubling you in the work that you're doing in your schools or the school that you're working with?  OK?  Great.

	So you guys are coming in. We got about half of you in. I'm really sure you're serious about this one so I'm going to give everybody a chance to go ahead and vote because I really want to see what it is we're speaking into. And our speakers are watching this too because as they start to make their remarks, they're going to be remembering what they saw here so that they can attest to – so they can attend to it as well.  I'm going to give a few more seconds because some of you are still voting.  And (Betty), go ahead and close the voting.  OK?

	So when we look at those results, yes, it's – again, not surprising. One thing to note here is that every category is identified as an issue for some of you. But about half of you are really trying to understand really providing the best quality HVAC and ventilation. And, yeah, that is – it's a biggie. And because of practically every school in the, you know, in the country has some form of HVAC system or some issue or some issue with ventilation even if it's just windows, even if you have a mechanical system. And that means one of the areas where once you bring that under control, the dilution, making sure you have the right amount of air flow, making sure you have a right amount of, you know, of air per cubic meter for each – those things being really critical.  But also, everyone having some interest in each of these things and then they all work together – they all work together.

	So thank you for the way that you brought this, the way that you have responded to our poll because it helps me then to talk to you a little bit, very quickly, before we move in to our speakers to hear how they are dealing with these issues and their particular school districts, to talk a little bit about the management tools that are available for all of you there. So when we polled earlier, we asked people about, you know, their – about what it is – their current knowledge of indoor air quality management practices and programs.  About 50 percent of you said that you clearly understood the importance of indoor air quality management, which is very exciting for us to see that number would have been very different several years ago. But still about a third of you are saying that you know a little bit about it. And next 16 percent of you saying that, you know, that you don't know much but you really want to learn more. And so about half of you in that place where you're actively seeing this information and about half of you in a place where you have a lot of information to share and provide as well.

	So those resources that we have available to you especially for that half who are seeking to know and understand more, we have a number of banks here at EPA in the Indoor Environment Division around our tools, indoor air quality tools, for school's resources to help you out. We have an interactive action kit and Framework which we will talk about. We have our team newsletters and our Connector, our discussion groups, the webinars like the one that you're on now that we're doing for Green Strides. We also do it in our own program related to other environmental and school health and green issues. In providing that technical support in champions near you and so I really am excited about the opportunity for you to join us at epa.gov/IAQ/schools and you can avail yourself of these folks. We have mentors and champions near you who want to talk to you and come out to support you. I'm going to see what else is going on with our webinar series and the kind of information you can keep up with. OK?

	Another quick polling question for you, and again, this will help me know in what depth to go in to our next set of information. What is your knowledge of EPA's Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools guidance? I'm really curious to know how many of you have been using our guidance. A: None, but you want to learn more. B: You know a little about our guidance. Or C: You know about it and you're already using it to help create healthy school environments. And so we're all, “Wow.” So, about 75 percent of you in and moving up quickly, great, great, great. The results are looking good. I can see them already, you guys can't but they'll be coming to you in three, two, one. Close the polling. And these are really nice. All 40 percent of you are already using our guidance, which is great, and so you're going to get to hear how from other school district especially not just around, you know, why around this particular guidance but also around the cross section that where it comes in with Green Ribbons Schools and how it's impacting the work that's happening for them so that you can garner that. And those of you who don't know much about these, you're going to get a real nice tutorial today around for the best, OK?

	So, just very quickly, our guidance started out as an Action Kit that continues to be one of the places that people come to and school districts come to really go soup to nuts with understanding how to bring indoor air quality under control. The kit itself is a series of low cost measures that help to – to help to specialize the approach that you want to take a common sense approach to addressing indoor air quality. And you can access our kit online as well, which you will find there's a number of checklists that are related to every arena that affects indoor air quality in schools. From the classroom, to the HVAC system, that so many of you said that you're having a problem kind of figuring out. Thus, we have a 3-page checklist that will help you really understand what it is you need to do to understand to address the HVAC systems within your school and walk through checklists that you see there.

	So every aspect is represented there. Because when we recognized, once we put it together, and we were able to tell people what to do, then the system, that integrated approach we talked about earlier, that system that's necessary for success starts to emerge for us. And we started to see that to put that guidance into place, these were the things that you needed to be doing in your school districts to make that guidance successful. And so we talked to school districts who were putting it into place. We talked to that 50 percent of you who were – who a long time were not 50 percent of you – but the folks who were using and using it effectively. And we said, “What kinds of things do you do to organize to get yourself ready? What kinds of things do you do to communicate effectively to get the kinds of results? What is assessment plan here looks like? What does your plan look like?” And these are some of the strategies that came forward. And we have this documented all over the place on our web site for you to come and see that particular stories – excuse me – of how people are using this Framework effectively in real school districts.

	So once we were able to do that, to tell you kind of, you know, what it is you needed to do in terms of the guidance? How to do it in terms of the system? Then people wanted to know, what are the actual pollutants? What are the actual conditions?  What is the real indoor air quality issues that we need to bring under control? And this is what they turned out to be, those same ones that we talked about earlier. But what we know now from talking to school districts all across the country is that there are specific strategies, approaches and actions that you can put into place to help you bring these under control.  And so we started to document those as well. And we have those available at the web site as well. So you can go into what each of these strategies mean as well as see examples how school districts are putting them in place across the country.

	So that has been our place in helping to create this versatile framework that allows you to enter into this work more effectively, and by providing examples for you to learn from one another how best to put this work into practice to start to get the results that you want to see in terms of greening your schools, making them a healthier, safer, better learning, teaching, and working environment.

	So that helps you understand what the guidance looks like and what it is intended to help you be able to do. But also we want you to understand that as you enter into working with this Framework, applying this guidance with your district, you are not alone. We really believe that, you know, EPA – that the Tools for Schools guidance has created a real – has helped create a real national movement towards creating the healthiest school environment possible. When we started out in the mid 90's, you know, about half the schools – half the case of 12 schools reported that they had IAQ related problems. And so when we launched our program in the mid 90's, we knew the problems we were stepping into, but today what we're finding is that – pretty much what we saw and when we asked you about, you know, how many of you were working on this – working with us on this, about 40 percent of you already have it in place. I know that 50 percent of you understand the importance of indoor air quality management. Well, that's what we're seeing nationwide.

	But about 50 more percent of schools in the U.S. have an IAQ management program. Something they're actually calling an IAQ management program.  That's 60,000 schools. Now that's not the case when we started this out.  People were doing the work, but they weren't calling it as systematic program and just naming it and focusing on it in that way has created results. 85 percent of those schools based their plan on the Tools for Schools model.  So we know that they are not just putting any old plan in place, but 85 percent of that 51 percent are doing it in the way that we know will get them the best possible results and outcomes.

	So we're excited to have it. And we're excited about those numbers. We think that's fabulous, but 51 percent is still 51 percent. I mean, there's another 49 percent out there that we are targeting on having the absolute best healthiest, cleanest, safest indoor environment in their schools. And that's what these calls are about and that's what our collaboration with schools and schools program is about. And that is what our next speakers are about as well because they have in their district, been able to not just address the indoor air quality issues but address them in a way that has helped to get them recognition through the Green Ribbons Schools Program. And they are really living at that cross section of where health meets the environment meets academic outcomes. And so we're really excited to be able to have you here how they're taking this integrated approach to school health programs.

	So first, I would like to welcome Richard Cox from Montgomery County Schools. And Richard is going to talk to us about a couple of things. He's going to address both why, in his view, IAQ is an essential component of green and health schools. And he's also going to talk to us about how he views – how they used the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools guidance in Montgomery County to create a sustainable indoor air quality program.  Richard, it's my pleasure to welcome you to the webinar.

Richard Cox:	Thank you, Tracy. Can everybody hear me?

Tracy Enger:	Yes, we got you, Richard.

Richard Cox:	OK. Well as you've heard by now, we spent an awful lot of time indoors part of that human construct that Tracy mentioned earlier, whether at schools, at the office, at home. We've also seen that pollutants and their sources, their pathways, are key to understanding indoor air quality. HVAC systems drive this transport mechanism. At MCPS, we found that poor IAQ can definitely impact student absenteeism and learning, staff absenteeism and health, staffing and operational cost, for instance, the need to pay for substitute teachers cost to operate poorly performing inefficient HVAC equipment, testing and consulting services related to an indoor air quality type event. And in worst case scenarios, even location of entire educational programs to different facilities.

	So MCPS and many districts are now recognizing the value and proactively addressing IAQ, which is the fundamental premise of the Tools for Schools program. The green school philosophy relies on collaboration of many disciplines with the focus on environmental and health and safety topics to improve and maintain the indoor environment. For example, at MCPS cleaning products that are used by our plant operations group are reviewed for health and safety concerns and must be approved for use in our schools before these products are purchased. We want to use cleaning products that essentially do no harm and are safe for workers to use and have no concerns for staff or student exposures. So when it comes to purchasing these cleaning products for use in our green schools, we have to bring together stakeholders from our plan operations group, environmental group, environmental safety group, or indoor air quality group and procurement in order to make those key purchasing decisions.

	Part of the green school philosophy is also to verify that HVAC equipment is operating as designed. The green school program also has a preventive maintenance component and its HVAC pillar, I believe its 2A. So there's a logical dog tail fit of a Tools for School type program with the Green Schools Program. Over the past 12 years, MCPS has developed a program that is focused on proactively addressing air quality by completing HVAC preventive maintenance. This is called our building maintenance program or BMP.

	If we could go to the next slide. At MCPS, the building maintenance program is based on many elements for the Tools for Schools Program. But rather than depending on IAQ coordinators at individual schools to implement the program, we have consolidated the approach with the team concept. There are many aspects to the program, but I need to emphasize that this is really a process that requires time, organizational buy in and support from district leadership and dedicated people to operate. MCPS officially started its program back in 2000. And since then, we have completed work in over 80 of our more than 220 schools. The work is done by a dedicated team consisting of a safety specialist, four HVAC mechanics and six technicians.

	There are many steps to the process and I want to very briefly touch on this.  Once a building is selected for our program, there's an initial kick off meeting with the principal, plan operation manager and the PTA. We have found that it is very, very, very important to get buy in from these stakeholders, especially the principal. The principal's opinion is going to influence staff and he or she is really the gatekeeper to the entire process.

	Next, there is IAQ awareness training that's delivered to staff as well as an initial questionnaire. We give the staff a primer on school indoor air quality and tell them about the program. Attention to little things, we have found really helps. For instance, we emphasized the importance of feedback from staff while their team of technicians is working in the building. We use a suggestion box for this purpose. The questionnaire is used to get staff input about the current indoor air quality conditions before work begins. It helps us identify places that may need special attention. The time that's spent with awareness training and on the questionnaire really helps to build a relationship between the team and the schools since the team is actively listening to concerns from the staff, and the staff is getting a feeling of ownership in the entire process.

	Next, the air quality specialists will complete a baseline assessment of the school. They're going to be looking for items that the team would routinely address and also other items that may influence safety or indoor air quality which need to be referred to other groups. For instance, our capital improvement group for larger projects. Based on this initial assessment, the specialists will develop a work plan and review it with the team and the school. Preventive maintenance work then begins with very intensive cleaning and disinfection of the HVAC equipment as well as mechanical repairs. This is all second shift work so the team does not interfere with classroom activities. One of the unique features of our team is that unlike routine reactive ventilation work orders where repairs may be more of a band aid type fix, the team is able to track problems to the root causes and complete the correct repair.

	The team is separated into cleaning and mechanical groups, cross training of the plan operation manager of the school occurs at this time. And this is a very critical element of the program because the building manager – if the building manager is unaware of the specifics of the equipment in his building, preventive maintenance will fall off and the equipment will degrade with time.  After the team has left, there's a follow up questionnaire to staff and a follow up building assessment conducted by the specialist. We compare pre-versus-post results in a report and we document the changes. And most of our emphasis really goes to measuring temperatures, humidity and carbon dioxide.  Some of the times we do really well and the improvements are noteworthy.  Other times it's kind of so so. And where we tend to run into real problems showing improvement in air quality has consistently been in buildings where the initial buy in and endorsement of the program but the principle was really suspect.

	The whole process can take one to three months for building to complete. A large high school might take over a year for us to complete. This is definitely where the school can feel much more like they're running a marathon rather than a quick sprint. The major deliverable of the program for each building is the customized BMP document which is very much like an owner's manual for a car. This document is left with the plant operation manager and it details what preventive maintenance work plan operations is responsible for, how often that work should be completed, and it also details the individual task.  There's a record keeping component and information about the building like what rooms each piece of HVAC equipment serves and electrical safety information. And the BMP has really been designed to be living document that gets updated as HVAC equipment is replaced.

	So in summary, the key points that have come out of our work had been to first be prepared for a very long process that's definitely more of a marathon than a sprint when it comes to implementing an Indoor Air Quality Tools for School type program. Second, be prepared to collaborate with other facility groups regarding topics that impact health and safety inside of schools. And last, the program is really a process that needs buy in from the top at both the district and the school level. Thank you.

Tracy Enger:	Richard, thank you. I really appreciate you bringing it back to those key elements that really underscore the success that you guys have had at Montgomery County. You know, the other things that I heard in there were around, you know, the way that you took the Framework, but you tailored it specifically to the needs and the strengths and the structure of your school district. So that if we didn't do individual IAQ coordinators, but we did do this team approach and the way that made sense for you to do it. And then being able to really do those systematic steps that brings all of the components of the guidance into focus, you know, from buy in to training and outright through all the way through. And thank you, guys, for just being so devoted to this process. And you're right, it is a marathon and I like to tell people all the time.  This is a lifestyle change. It is not diet. OK?  And if you kind of see the ongoing results, you have to commit to it in an ongoing way. It's not like all of a sudden we're done doing indoor air quality. It's always a matter of, you know, where were we yesterday, where are we today, where we're going tomorrow. And we can see that shining through in the Montgomery County story. So, thank you so much.

Richard Cox:	OK.

Tracy Enger:	And our next speaker also has an amazing story about the way that this work has shown up for them is Shelley Bengtson from Omaha Public School in Nebraska. And you're going to be listening for some of the same elements of how they were able to tailor this overall flexible approach to make it really work for them and what some of the outcomes where. So Shelley, welcome and thank you for being here.

Shelley Bengtson:	Thanks, Tracy. As Richard said earlier, creating a healthy environment is really important. It's one of the most critical contributions that we can make to the learning process. Anything that affects the comfort and health of a student is a distraction and takes away from their ability to concentrate. 13 years ago, this district renovated several schools that included HVAC upgrades. Raw test scores from before and after the renovation were reviewed and they did appear to have an overall increase. At the same time, the district was encouraging the most experienced teachers to transfer to schools with the greatest needs, which included many of those renovated schools. And because of that, it wasn't possible for me to determine if the improved indoor air quality alone was responsible for that increase. 

	Determining illness-related absences has been complicated by (HEPA laws) and the fact that absences are not categorized by the reason in this district. Excused absences due to illness or unexcused absences are all tallied together.  However, the nurses' supervisor has noticed a decrease in the frequency and severity of asthma attacks. This was really encouraging to us as our indoor air quality program emphasizes controlling asthma triggers. Not long ago, Nebraska ranked number two in the nation with asthma-related deaths.

	Instead of costing money, the indoor air quality program has helped us focus our resources where we could make the most positive changes. Obviously, buildings that are operating at optimal performance are more energy efficient and save on utility costs. Although the maintenance department stills funds the majority of HVAC upgrades, other departments share in the cost of routine maintenance and special renovation such as changing the filter bags to accept one inch completed filter switch or, you know, more effective at capturing particulates from the air or cleaning outdoor air intakes. This year, one department is paying to waterproof their exterior of a building to prevent water intrusion that was found to be the cause of some must odors in the basement rooms.

	Issues identified as ones originating from the time of construction were brought to the attention of the architects through our school health planning personnel. And they incorporated those concerns into new designs. Those concerns included such issues as the placement of outdoor air intake and installing supply and exhaust ducks in storage rooms. Of course, every school seems to be cramped for room, or really trying to find room anywhere that they can so they use the storage room with no ventilation and surrounded with firewalls as an office. So it's much less expensive for us to add ventilation before construction than it is to try to add them later.

	While formalizing our indoor air quality program, the routes of communication were strengthened between the building from grounds departments and building administrators and their staff. All departments learned the importance of communicating their projects with the building staff before it started so arrangements could be made to accommodate sensitive persons. Proper training, learning the government regulations if any, knowing how to collect samples and interpret those results, and how to design remediation projects, and how to implement a program in phases are all processes we learn from indoor air quality program. All these steps help us ensure that we are receiving and giving the best service possible.

	Nuisance odors are one of the most common indoor air quality complaints and are frequently found to originate in products being used in the buildings. The custodial department evaluates all the products they used by committee first the material safety data sheet so that products are reviewed for health ratings for two or below. And we also look at the other ratings, but that's the most important one for us. And then the product is still verified or field tested so that we can make sure that it actually performs as we needed to. And then the integrated pest management program fits perfectly into our air indoor air quality program as it strives to reduce the chemical used in the building, yet it still contains the pest control of the pest population especially cockroaches which are another one of the asthma triggers.

	Radon on training helped us to oversee the placement of hundreds of collection canisters. And by the way, that training was sponsored by local agencies and was available to us at a very low cost.

	Lead can be found in paint, air, water, soil, and products such as toys. It was necessary to learn the pros and cons of all the testing methods and remediation options so we can determine the best choice for us. Mercury management is a bit different. As if there was no testing and only remediation. All departments are encouraged to eliminate mercury containing products and equipment as much as possible and then we collect that mercury for recycling.

	One common asthma trigger identified by CDC is vehicle exhaust, especially the carbon black emitted by diesel fuel vehicles. A no idle policy was adopted and student transportation, with the help of our local health department, received a clean school bus grant. By working together to solve problems, sharing the financial burdens and exchanging information with each other, we have integrated indoor air quality into the decision making process.  

	Even though the IAQ team includes all the departments of buildings and grounds, the long range success of the program depends on support from the department supervisors and our directors of both buildings and grounds. Their involvement is needed not only for their financial commitment, but their willingness to incorporate these new ideas to improve the indoor environment into their standard operating procedures.

	Prior to the adoption of the Tools for Schools program, the staff didn't know who to contact with their indoor air quality concerns. Most building staff became frustrated and just assumed no one would help. Now, all the custodians and principals know which department to contact. And our average response time is less than 24 hours and we always remember to follow up with them and make sure that we actually did the correct the issue that they were concerned about.

	We rely on building staff observation and work requests to keep tabs on the building conditions. In addition to that, the environmental department collects baseline data, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, temperature and relative humidity. From that data, we've been able to detect malfunctions in the HVAC systems. While collecting baseline [data], staff looks for other indicators or problems, such as paper over supply diffuses, materials blocking the return air plenums, or chemicals being used or stored improperly.

	High carbon dioxide readings may indicate a problem with the intake of outdoor air, such as overloaded filters, broken belts, inoperable fans or levers in the wrong position. Because of constant communication and transfer of information between the department and the school staff, we developed a culture or an attitude of awareness and recognition of existing as well as potential problems in everyone, not just those directly involved with the IAQ programs. Whenever possible, information about improving the indoor environment is published in departmental newsletters and we speak at in-house training sessions. All building occupants are encouraged to be aware of the measures each of us can take to provide the best possible learning environment for all of our students.  Thank you.

Tracy Enger:	And Shelley, thank you so much. You know, when we started putting together this Framework and looking at all the different key drivers for getting indoor air quality, one of the things that we saw when we started looking at successful school districts like yourself was that while all of the key drivers are really important to put into place, you know, to organize, to communicate, to plan, to act, and, you know, to evaluate. We knew they were all important.  But what we also knew was that there was this really magical combination between organizing and communicating. That was – once you got those two things really working together well that they help drive the other processes.  And that's what I see in this story.

	The way that you have been able to really think about the way you're bringing those different departments together to get that buy in, and the way that you're communicating what you're doing, getting communication back from your participants, using that data to continue to drive your system, it is really getting amazing results. And not only is it getting results in terms of what's happening with indoor air quality, but you're getting people bought into the place. Like you said, they're putting their money where their heart and where the action is. And so everybody is going to be ponying up around this issue in the way that demonstrates their commitments to it because they're committed to something larger than just the work they were doing before. They're committed to this overall program into the health of everyone who's there, as are your occupants because you've educated them as well.

	So it's a beautiful story and how it all comes together.  And thank you for sharing it, Shelley.

Shelley Bengtson:	Thank you.

Tracy Enger:	Certainly. So, this is your opportunity for all of our participants who are listening too, to tap the same kinds of results that you're seeing with our two speakers. So for you to be able to take action on what you think. And so for the school and school districts, you know, there are a lot of different ways that you can may be taking actions but right away, some of the things that you can be doing, you know, organizing, looking at how you can take this Framework, take this Action Kit, form teams, and really make it your own the way that you heard these districts doing, the way that you're communicating and sharing your goals, as well as getting feedback from others who are in your buildings, the way that you're reaching out to those kinds of supports. You've heard how Shelley was reaching out to her State Health Department as well. You've heard about those collaborations that are being made.

	How are you accessing what's going on? If you've heard nothing else from Richard and Shelley's story, they understand and know their buildings - building by building, person by person. And so, how is that you're getting that assessment done? And then planning to make sure that you're able to do long and short range planning because that's where – if there is a driver where the money is, it is in the planning. If you can plan the work and work the plan, the funds will start to emerge. And so, I really am kind of curious. I'm going to push you guys a little bit, one more poll for you. I really would like to know as you continue to go into this work, after this webinar, what's the first action that you want to take?  

	The first action that you want to take as a result of this webinar to help bring you closer to the kinds of results that you want to see for healthy green schools, for healthy environments within the schools. What are you going to do? Are you going to be accessing the Framework of our Action Kit online? Are you going to be – maybe you've already done that and you're looking at forming your IAQ team? Perhaps it is the collaboration of partnership. Are you going to be reaching out to State Departments of Education or Health in order to get that kind of support? Are you going to be conducting a school walkthrough first off the bat? Hang up the phone right now and going to find your facilities person to do it? Or developing an IAQ management plan overall that brings these components together because you've got them started in place and just want to bring them together.

	So we have half of you voting. I'm going to leave it open a little while longer because I really want to know. Because also, when we hear the program, see what is it you're trained on, then we know the kinds of resources to make available for you to make it easier for you as well. So when you go online and you start seeing the kinds of materials that we have developed and we continue to develop, it's in response to what we see as a direct request from you for the things that you plan to do. OK?

	So we're going to go ahead and give you few more seconds. And then I'm going to ask Betty to close the polling. I'm going to have you do it in three, two, one. You can go ahead and close the polling, Betty. And so, great, about 40 percent of you are headed out to access the Framework and the Action Kit online. And once you go there, you're just going to find just a plethora – I like to use that word – a plethora of information, just an abundance of resources to support you and being able to act on the Framework and the Action Kit as well.

	About 20 percent of you, bless your hearts, are looking at developing an overall IAQ management plan. So you know you've got some of the elements in placed but really bringing them together, making it a calling it a plan. I'm telling you, just that action alone changes things people. And I'm sure that your State Department of Health and the State Department of Education are going to be really excited to see how many of you have been driven it to partnership with them in order to help create the best and healthy indoor environment. And we have some great people out there at the state level who are already in our network here at EPA as well. But, Andrea Falken, also at the Department of Ed, I know she's going to be really excited to see that almost a quarter of you, the first thing you want to do is to talk to your State Health or Department of Ed.

	And then, you know, the 12 percent of you are going to doing the walkthrough or putting the teams together. We got the checklist there to help you make it happen, so terrific actions to be taken.

	Those of you who are not in school district, you're not off the hook. There are some actions that you can be taking as well. So guess what State Departments of Education and other leaders, folks are going to be coming your way. And so we're going to be asking you to really help encourage these school districts to utilize this technology and the guidance that we have as well as really helping them to communicate, to educate your state and community about the benefits of proactive indoor air quality management. So you can see out there that there's an appetite. So really acting on that awareness, really helping to communicate the importance of it – I mean, then really acting to support them and to participate in the national Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools network. So when they come to you, help drive them back into this network and into this system and bring your other colleagues into this system as well so that we can altogether continue the actual movement forward collectively towards the healthiest, safest, greenest indoor environment in schools as possible.

	So, the resources that you need to make it happen are here. Do not worry about quickly taking any of these things down because all of you who are registered for this webinar will get a link to receive all of the materials that you see here. And so these resources – I just want you to know that the Connector is there for you. We really worked very hard on being able to keep all of the people in our network connected to one another so that we continue to grow in best practices, grow in support and spread what it is that we know.  And so, do go on to the web site online for that, you know, that 40 percent of you who are going to go online. You will have the link right there to be able to do it so lots of resources for you.

	Also, our speakers today have been very kind. They're in the network. They are award winners and they are here and willing to serve. And so, please, and if you heard things in their story that you want to know more about, understand better, then definitely contact them. Or if you have some resources in their story that you think you can contribute to them, then please, by all means, do that as well.

	And then, again, today's materials, everything that you saw will be posted on EPA's web site. So I invite you to go and visit us there. It's really easy, epa.gov/iaq/schools/webconferences. And you'll be able to find all of those materials. You can also learn more about the Green Ribbons Schools program and the recommended resources right there www2.ed.gov/programs/green-ribbons-schools/resources. But you'll have that link as well, OK?

	And there are more webinars upcoming in this series. So one of them the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools webinars. They're coming up – we have one on radon in schools. You've heard from both of our speakers today the importance of source control and especially when it comes to our sources.  The important thing is to keep on and so on July 18th from 2:00 to 3:00 we will be having a webinar specifically around bringing rate on under control. And that registration information will be coming out to you soon. OK?

	And then for Green Strides. This is the inaugural, like we said, webinar in this series. This series will go on. Andrea Falken who is the Director of the Green Ribbons Schools Program at Department of Ed has a bang-up line-up coming of all kinds of different issues that are related to creating the healthiest schools – healthiest possible schools across the country on all three of the pillars that represent Green Ribbon Schools. And so we can invite you to continue to be in contact with them to see what that lineup is going to look like. And we will, when this information goes out, we'll have another link there too where you can connect to their newsletter which will automatically send you updates of all the things that are going on. OK?

	And so with that, the questions we had a number of questions that were in the chat and question pane. We are at the 2:00 hour. And so what we will be doing is we will be posting your questions also online at our web site and we will be responding to those questions there as well. So we invite you to please join us online so that you can see some of the questions that came up and some of the responses that we'll be able to post for you there. So we invite you into community with us at the IAQ Tools for Schools connector site. OK?

	So with that, we are right at the top of the hour. And so I want to be able to thank all of our speakers for being a part of this webinar today. I want to thank our host, Andrea Falken, and the Department of Education for providing this series and for providing this really unique and robust partnering opportunity between, not just federal organizations, but for us to be able to provide this kind of service to all of you as stakeholders out there as well. Thank you for your time today and for your excitement and enthusiasm. We're looking forward to following with you on the Connector to see how we can support you as you take action to create the greenest and healthiest indoor environments in schools.

	Thank you for your time today and I look forward to hearing you and seeing on future webinars and at the EPA IAQ Tools for Schools Connector. Have a great afternoon. Good bye.