Learning in Safety

Cheryl Walsh, a mother of two in Stoneham, Massachusetts, never thought of herself as the Erin Brockovich type. But in the fall of 1999, Walsh says, she and other "ordinary, unexperienced parents" got worried about the proposed siting of the town's new elementary school. Although the school itself would be built on soil that had tested clean, Walsh learned that adjacent land had once been a railroad bed, which meant that it might contain hazardous substances such as arsenic from the pressure-treated railway ties. Along with other members of the newly formed Stoneham Parents for Healthy Schools, she asked the town to test the adjacent property, but it refused.

A dead end? Not at all. "My husband and I went out with a ruler, spoons and jars to collect soil samples," says Walsh, who used a kit supplied by an environmental firm that also analyzed the samples. The results confirmed their fears: levels of arsenic were well above the "imminent hazard" threshhold. Arsenic is a known carcinogen, and immediate reactions to its exposure including vomiting, headaches and seizures. The contaminated soil was cleaned up by the town before the school opened its doors in November 2001.

Stoneham's pollution wasn't an isolated case. A recent report on schools in just five states, by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) found 1,195 schools located within a half-mile radius of a contaminated site. "There are no federal laws requiring environmental assessments of existing schools or of the sites for new schools," says Paul Ruther of CHEJ.

In addition to school location, parents should also be watchful of indoor air quality, which can plummet along with maintenance when budgets are cut. "Poor maintenance is one of the biggest contributors to sick schools," says John Santilli, M.D., chief of allergy and immunology at St. Vincent's Medical Center, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, who treated patients made ill by mold growing in a school so contaminated that it had to be torn down.

"Indoor air quality has a very real effect on how well, or how poorly, kids learn," says Claire Barnett, executive director of Healthy Schools Network, Inc. She adds that from 30 to 40 percent of the nation's 115,000 public schools are estimated to have indoor air problems, based on surveys by the Department of Education and the U.S. General Accounting Office.

Some Common Problems

Mold

In Girard, Ohio, a brand-new school opened its doors in September 2000, turned on the heat at the end of October and was hit with an epidemic of sick kids and teachers, who complained of coughs, sneezing, headaches, itching, rashes and a terrible smell. "My daughter had red, red eyes, and some of the teachers suffered cognitive difficulties, and the odor was terrible," says Cathy Ross, a mother of two. The school administration withheld test results for six months before parents and teachers learned of the toxic mold growing in the faulty ventilation system. Health risks posed by mold range from asthma attacks, headaches, fatigue, diarrhea and skin rashes to liver damage, central nervous system disorders and cancer, according to the EPA. Ross and other parents worked with the town's board of health to make sure that the school properly remediated the mold, and are remaining vigilant.

Warning Signs:

The "sniff test" that alerted Girard students and teachers "is virtually infallible for detecting mold," says Dr. Santilli. Leaks and water damage are another danger sign, and "a wet carpet that's not cleaned within 24 hours will nearly always be fungally contaminated and must be thrown out," Dr. Santilli adds.

For more information, see the EPA's "Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings" (www.epa.gov/iaq/molds).

Toxic Building Materials

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Toxins such as formaldehyde, toluene and benzene are so "volatile" that they escape their host product and drift into the air. Schools that have been renovated over the summer and not properly ventilated may be high in VOCs, which are present in conventional paint and paint strippers, particleboard and other pressed woods, wood finishes, caulking and adhesives used in carpets. High heat and humidity--back-to-school weather--only hasten their release. Effects include nausea, dizziness, throat irritation and fatigue.

Old Lead Paint

The long-term health effects of lead include decreased growth; behavior problems; harm to kidneys, blood, nervous and reproductive systems; impaired hearing and learning and even brain damage. Lead collects in the body, is stored primarily in the bones and slowly leaches into the blood.

Most cases of childhood lead poisoning in the U.S. result from flaking, peeling lead paint, which wasn't banned until 1978. For example, of 369 New Jersey day-care centers built before 1979, nearly one in five recently failed a lead-paint test by the state department of human services, reports The Press of Atlantic City. If your child's school dates from before 1980, the interior and exterior paint should be checked. Lead paint should be cleaned up only by a licensed professional. For more information, call 800/LEAD-FYI.

Pressure-Treated Wood

The "pressure-treated" wood commonly used in playground equipment, decks and picnic tables contains chromated copper arsenate (CCA), a form of arsenic. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), CCA can rub off onto skin upon contact, even years after the wood is placed outside. For more information, see "What You Can Do," above, and The Environmental Working Group report, Poisoned Playgrounds.