Tools for Healthy Schools
EPA’s July 11, 2017 Webinar features Guidance for Schools Integrating Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency
Interested in taking a proactive approach to protecting indoor air quality (IAQ) while boosting energy efficiency in your school district? This webinar will take you through the steps for getting started. You will learn how to integrate energy management activities (including retrofits or other building upgrade projects) and IAQ protection activities using the recommendations found in the Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades guidance. Join the webinar on Tuesday, July 11 – 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT and explore practical steps for seamlessly implementing EPA’s Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades guidance and how to use the accompanying Interactive Air Quality Planner, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that helps create a custom verification checklist for energy efficiency projects.
This webinar will include—
- Get started implementing the Energy Savings Plus Health Guide to integrate IAQ protections into school energy efficiency retrofits and other building upgrade projects.
- Create a custom verification checklist using the Interactive Air Quality Planner.
- Apply the best practices modeled by Des Moines Public Schools to realize cost savings and protect occupant health by integrating energy management activities and IAQ protection activities.
- Participate in a question-and-answer session
Featured IAQ Experts
- Kudret Ütebay, The Cadmus Group Inc.
- Dave Berger, Des Moines Public Schools, Iowa
Share the news about the new guidance with your networks and make use of the Energy Savings Plus Health Guidelines and the accompanying Interactive Air Quality Planner tool.
Together, they will help schools and districts to customize priorities for renovation projects and ensure that efforts to increase energy efficiency do not compromise IAQ.
IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series
Green Cleaning for Improved Health: The Return on Investment (ROI) of Green Cleaning in Schools
 | Date: Thursday, June 22, 2017 Time: 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT |
 | School IAQ Assessment Mobile App |
Webinar participants will learn how to–
- Incorporate evidence-based green cleaning techniques and best practices into a comprehensive system for achieving indoor environmental health.
- Utilize data tracking and evaluation strategies to develop a business case, a value proposition and a communication strategy that generate broader acceptance of, compliance with and funding for green cleaning.
- Design and successfully implement a strategy to identify, collect and use data with low-cost, easy-to-use tools (e.g., the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App) to make the case for green cleaning approaches.
- Track such technical measures as return on investment; the results of surface adenosine triphosphate (ATP) testing; asthma incidence, attendance rates and other important health and performance measures; reductions in occupant complaints; and improvement in IAQ.
- Replicate the strategies used by school districts that have successfully developed and implemented green cleaning programs to reduce costs and improve health by using the “Communicate” and “Evaluate” Key Drivers of the IAQ Tools for Schools Framework.
Featured IAQ Experts
- Tracy Enger, Indoor Environments Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Shawna Cragun, Custodial Services Director, Davis School District, Utah
- Mike Jones, Director of Custodial Services, Columbia Public Schools, Utah
What Is the IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series?
The IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series comprises 1-hour technical, core-competency, Web-based trainings that demonstrate how the knowledge gained in the IAQ Master Class Professional Training Webinar Series can be translated into actions that improve or sustain an IAQ management program within your school or school district.
Learn from technical experts, industry leaders and model school districts during these free, on-demand 1-hour webinars. A 30-minute mentoring Q&A session follows each webinar.
You will learn how to implement a successful organizational and programmatic framework for comprehensive, proactive IAQ management using EPA’s Framework for Effective School IAQ Management: Key Drivers. In addition, the series covers the critical actions needed to address building-related environmental health issues (Technical Solutions) and explains how to use the detailed walkthrough assessment checklists in the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App to identify and prioritize IAQ improvements. Gain recognition for your knowledge acquisition and commitment to action by receiving a certificate of completion for each training.
What Is the IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series?
The IAQ Knowledge-to-Action Professional Training Webinar Series comprises four 1-hour technical, core-competency, Web-based trainings designed to demonstrate how to translate the knowledge gained in the IAQ Master Class Professional Training Webinar Series into actions to improve or sustain an IAQ management program within your school or school district.
Learn from technical experts, industry leaders and model school districts during these live webinars, which will be followed by 30-minute mentoring Q&A sessions.
You will learn how to implement a successful organizational and programmatic framework for comprehensive and proactive IAQ management using EPA’s Framework for Effective School IAQ Management: Key Drivers.
In addition, the series will cover the critical actions needed to address building-related environmental health issues (Technical Solutions) and how to use the detailed walkthrough assessment checklists in the School IAQ Assessment Mobile App to identify and prioritize IAQ improvements. Gain recognition for your knowledge acquisition and commitment to action through certificates of completion for each training.
Indoor Air Quality Knowledge-to-Action Webinar Series
| Webinar Topic | Date |
| Healthy Schools, Healthy Students: Taking Action to Improve IAQ in Your School District | Recorded on 4/14/16 |
| Know the Drill for Healthy IAQ: Training School Staff and Occupants to Reduce Indoor Asthma Triggers | Recorded on 6/9/16 |
| Better Together: Gaining Buy-in for Optimal Ventilation | Recorded on 9/22/16 |
| Mold, Moisture and Money: How to Secure Funding to Address and Prevent IAQ Issues | Recorded on 10/20/16 |
EPA’s New Smart School Siting Tool
EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities developed the Smart School Siting Tool to help school agencies and other local government agencies work together to better align school siting and other community development decisions. The tool includes:
- A User Guide (PDF) (33 pp, 826 K, About PDF) that provides background on the links between school siting and community impacts, presents an overview of the tool, and describes how to use the Excel-based workbooks.
- The Assessment & Planning Workbook (Excel) (9 pp, 2 MB), which helps a community understand how well its school siting process is coordinated with land use and other community planning processes.
- The Site Comparison Workbook (Excel) (13 pp, 866 K), which helps a community evaluate and compare candidate sites for a proposed school, which could be a new or renovated school.
IAQ Master Class Professional Training Webinar Series
Miss a webinar? No worries! All previously recorded webinars are available for on-demand viewing on EPA’s web site.
As part of our ongoing effort to continue the momentum to create healthy schools indoor environments in all our nation’s schools, we are pleased to announce the launching of our new IAQ Master Class Webinar Series.
At the June 2014 SHIELD Summit, the SHIELD Network began work on designing ten 1-hour technical core-competency web-based training intended to build the capacity of school district staff across the country to start, improve, or sustain an IAQ management program.
The webinars will feature technical experts, industry leaders and model school districts from the SHIELD Network. CEU’s are pending and certificates of completion will provided to all who complete the post training evaluation.
| Webinar Topic | Date |
| Creating Healthy Indoor Environments in Schools | Recorded 4/30/2014 |
| Making the Case for Environmental Health, Academic Performance and High-Performing Facilities | Recorded 12/11/2014 |
| Fresh Air: Optimal HVAC Management for Improved Health | Recorded 1/22/2015 |
| Mold and Moisture: Double Trouble for Schools | Recorded 2/12/2015 |
| Indoor Air Quality Plus Energy Efficiency: A Formula for Saving Money While Protecting Your School’s Indoor Environment | Recorded 3/12/2015 |
| Smart, Sensible and Sustainable Pest Management in Your School | Recorded 4/16/2015 |
| Managing Asthma for Improved Health and Academic Outcomes | Recorded 5/14/2015 |
| Clean Bill of Health: How Effective Cleaning and Maintenance Can Improve Health Outcomes in Your School | Recorded 6/4/2015 |
| Living in a Material World: Selecting the Right Materials to Improve IAQ in Schools | Recorded 7/16/2015 |
| Pollution Solution: Improving IAQ Through Source Control | Recorded 9/17/2015 |
Learn from technical experts, industry leaders and model school districts during these webinars, which are followed by 30-minute mentoring Q&A sessions.
School IAQ Assessment Mobile App
On August 12, EPA released a new tool to help you conduct comprehensive indoor air quality (IAQ) facility assessments. The School IAQ Assessment Mobile App is now available – free of charge – to complement an existing IAQ management program and serve as the foundation for IAQ management in your district. A school walkthrough is an essential component of a comprehensive IAQ management program. Just like going to the doctor for your check-up, conducting school facility assessments should be part of your preventative care plan. Prevention saves time and money in the long run. This new School IAQ Assessment Mobile App will help you identify, prioritize and resolve IAQ issues.
With this new FREE app you can—
- Access the IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit guidance.
- Complete 11 school IAQ assessment checklists, organized by school area (e.g., building and grounds maintenance, teacher’s classroom, HVAC, new renovations).
- Submit the completed checklist assessment forms (in Excel format) to a designated IAQ coordinator.
- Attach pictures and add notes about IAQ problems to your completed checklists.
- Drupal-ready web banner and mobile app icon – download here.
- Link to 4 various sized widgets. The HTML coding appears below each image, which can be copied and pasted into the back end of a web site and the widget will *magically* appear.
- Link to press release
Association for Learning Environments Webinar – The Teacher Is In: School Siting Tools You Can Use
Schools are a major community investment and their location influences decisions households make on where to live. This, in turn, can influence regional community development trends and daily travel patterns. Participants will learn about the EPA Smart School Siting Tool developed to help communities implement school siting decisions that emphasize coordination between local government and school siting decision makers, strengthening preferred community development patterns, sustainability, safety, and health. The EPA 2014 Smart School Siting Tool helps communities evaluate whether candidate school sites: are efficiently located with respect to existing population and infrastructure; are coordinated with community planning priorities; and foster active lifestyles and promote community health. The tool also provides a cost calculator to compare capital and operating costs associated with each site’s unique characteristics.
Speakers include:
- Regina Langton, Senior Policy Analyst, EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities
- Katherine Moore, Director of Georgia Conservancy’s statewide Sustainable Growth Program
- Bill Michaud, Senior Technical Advisor for Land and Sustainability Programs, SRA International
- Nick Salmon, Educational Facility Planner, CTA
Learn more about this webinar and register for immediate access at https://education.a4le.org
The Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Approach: Providing a Framework for Success
EPA’s Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Tools for Schools guidance has been implemented successfully in tens of thousands of schools nationwide. The Framework for Effective School IAQ Management synthesizes the accumulated learning of more than 800 schools involved in a national survey of IAQ management practices; 200 applicants for IAQ Tools for Schools awards; and in-depth interviews, site visits and analysis of five faculty school districts. The Framework provides a common language to describe the drivers of IAQ program success; detailed guidance on the proven strategies, organizational approaches, and leadership styles that are fundamental to program effectiveness; and a clear vision of the pathway to school IAQ excellence. Its highly flexible and adaptable structure allows any school, regardless of location, size, budget or condition, to use the Framework to launch, reinvigorate and sustain an effective IAQ management program. Read more >
EPA Publishes New Guidance for Schools Integrating Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency
EPA is excited to announce the release of new guidance, Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades. The Guidelines equip school districts with tools to integrate indoor air quality (IAQ) protections into school energy efficiency retrofits and other building upgrade projects, thus helping schools implement important energy efficiency upgrades without compromising occupant health. Energy management and IAQ protection are critical priorities for school facility management. Renovation and construction activities can create dust, introduce new contaminants and contaminant pathways, create or aggravate moisture problems, and result in inadequate ventilation in occupied spaces. The Guidelines offer opportunities to prevent and control potentially harmful conditions during school renovations.
By following the recommendations outlined in the Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades, school districts will reap the benefits of improved student and staff health, reduced operational costs, and significant environmental and economic benefits.
Protect Occupant Health and Lower Energy Costs at Your School
As school districts pursue energy cost savings and occupant health protection goals, there can be a misconception that the two goals are at odds with one another. In fact, when energy efficiency and IAQ protection goals are integrated and addressed holistically, schools can achieve strong results in both areas.
Schools can institute practices to address risks and take advantage of opportunities presented by energy upgrades and retrofits. Whether a school's or district’s energy-efficiency upgrades and IAQ improvements involve building structure, equipment, or ongoing maintenance and operations, combining these efforts can streamline all phases of the project, saving schools valuable time and money.
Do You Plan on Renovating a School Facility or Performing Energy Upgrades?
Before you get started on these projects, make use of the Energy Savings Plus Health Guidelines and the accompanying Energy Savings Plus Health Checklist Generator tool. Together, they will help you customize priorities for your projects and ensure that your efforts to increase energy efficiency do not compromise IAQ (e.g., by reducing ventilation air flow or increasing the risk of moisture problems).
Get Started Today!
Download Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades and the Energy Savings Plus Health Checklist Generator tool today!
Questions?
If you have any questions about the IAQ Tools for Schools guidance, please contact the IAQ Tools for Schools Connector Coordinator at iaqschools@epa.gov.
EPA offers free IAQ Tools for Schools comprehensive resources to help schools maintain a healthy environment in school buildings by identifying, correcting and preventing IAQ problems. Learn more about the IAQ Tools for Schools guidance at www.epa.gov/iaq/schools.
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality – Self-Evaluation to Qualify as an Arizona Environmentally Healthy School
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is sponsoring a new recognition program to help promote and assist individual schools to become an Arizona Environmentally Healthy (AEH) school. This program recognizes policies and actions taken by schools to help ensure a healthy and safe learning and teaching environment. The checklist is to be used by school principals, or their designees, to certify to ADEQ that their schools have taken actions to safeguard their students, facility, and other personnel against environmental pollutants and other potential environmental risks.
If your school can certify that it meets 14 of the following 22 criteria, it will be designated as an AEH school and receive an ADEQ certificate stating that your school is environmentally healthy.
Download the self-evaluation form
IAQ & Schools Videos
“Taking Action,” video shows how one school successfully implemented the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit.
“Ventilation Basics,” explains the importance of good indoor air quality and shows how to operate and maintain school ventilation systems effectively.
“Walkthrough: Four Schools Making a Difference,” illustrates how to conduct a thorough school indoor air quality walkthrough. School personnel focus on environmental health issues directly linked to managing indoor air quality.
For more information, please visit www.epa.gov/iaq/schools.
Virtual School Walkthrough: Identifying and Responding to Common IAQ Problems
Webinar Resources Now Available!
The Virtual School Walkthrough: Identifying and Responding to Common IAQ Problems webinar was held on February 26, 2013, and provided participants with a comprehensive and effective process for identifying, diagnosing and solving common IAQ issues.
A Question and Answer document from this webinar is now available on the IAQ Tools for Schools Webinar Resources page!
Due to the large file size of this webinar’s presentation slides, we will not be posting a PDF of the webinar slides online. However, you can watch a video of a school walkthrough on Northwest Clean Air Agency’s website to gain access to the pictures and images that were used during the webinar.
Want more information? Checkout EPA’s online resources! Visit the IAQ Tools for Schools webinar archive to view the webinar follow-up materials from previous Virtual School Walkthrough webinars, including:
- Virtual School Walkthrough Webinar 2.0: Responding to Common IAQ Issues and Concerns from 2012; and
- Virtual School Walkthrough Webinar: Identifying and Solving Common IAQ Problems from 2011.
Association for Learning Environments/EPA Healthy Schools Environment Programs
Healthy School Environments Across Texas
April 23-24, 2012
A4LE/EPA Region 6 Program
Garland, TX
View presentations >>
Healthy School Environments Across the South
February 23, 2012
A4LE/EPA Region 4 Program
Athens, GA
View presentations >>
Effectively Implementing an IEQ Management Program
May 12, 2011
A4LE/EPA Region 6 Program
San Antonio, TX
View presentations >>
US EPA Tools for Schools Program’s Newest Resource
The IAQ and Student Performance Web site, offers the latest scientific evidence demonstrating the relationship of IAQ to key factors that influence student health and performance.
Make Sure You Have Your Tools for Schools (TfS) Action Kit
The IAQ TfS Action Kit shows schools how to carry out a practical plan to improve indoor air problems at little- or no-cost using straightforward activities and in-house staff. The Kit provides best practices, industry guidelines, sample policies, and a sample IAQ management plan. The voluntary guidance can save schools time and money so that resources can be directed toward educating children. The IAQ TfS Action Kit is co-sponsored by the National Parent Teacher Association, National Education Association, Association of School Business Officials, American Federation of Teachers, and the American Lung Association.
You can learn more about this at: www.epa.gov
Learn How to Manage an IAQ Program in Your School District
EPA’s IAQ TfS Program is designed to provide schools with common sense, easy-to-follow, guidance for developing, implementing, and sustaining an IAQ management program. An effective IAQ management program addresses both short-term and long-term IAQ issues, and puts in place policies and standard procedures to prevent future IAQ concerns.
Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool (HealthySEAT)
EPA’s Healthy School Environments Assessment Tool (HealthySEAT) is a free software tool that helps school systems effectively manage environmental issues. Download this at: www.epa.gov/schools
High Performance Schools
Seeking answers for key questions regarding high performance schools? Get them at: www.epa.gov/iaq