6 Sep 2021

The Air Isn’t Fair

by | posted in: 21st Century School Buildings, Blog, Healthy Schools | 0

After a year puntuated with protest chants of “I can’t breath!,” another important social and equity
issue is being noticed: the poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) affecting millions of students in our schools.

What-is-IAQ-School-1920px-1 by .


For decades, schools–especially schools in low income districts–have been failing to provide students
with air quality which we expect in businesses, offices and government buildings.
Too many of our children are stuck in old schools with either no air conditioning or antiquated systems
(think rusty window units) which fail to provide the ventilation, purification, and temperature control
required to create healthy and productive classroom environments. The air, ain’t fair.


This lack of air quality in poor schools is particularly egregious since students in low income areas
are far more likely to have childhood asthma which can be aggravated by poor air quality at their school.
Baltimore children are twice as likely to have childhood asthma than children throughout the state,
Why does that matter? Asthma is the leading health cause of missed school days in Baltimore.
Right now, we can create real and lasting improvements in the health and learning of our children by
investing infrastructure and educational funding to improve the air quality at our schools.


At the federal level, we should demand federal infrastructure funding to achieve ASHRAE standards for
IAQ in every school. We should advocate for funding of the EPA, and specifically for increased funding
for the Tools For Schools program which promotes improved air quality for our schools through
education and partnerships with schools.


At the state level, we need to continue to pressure Governor Hogan to provide funding for schools
so every school meets ASHRAE standards for Indoor Air Quality. Gov. Hogan has expressed
frustration with some school districts for not installing new HVAC systems at their schools, but he has
also balked at providing full school funding. . Healthy air and comfortable classrooms
improve student performance. This should be a priority and provided by the state in accordance with our
state constitutional requirement to educate our children. Want better test scores? Improve IAQ.


School districts should use their funds wisely and expediently to improve IAQ at their schools.
They should invest in proven technologies including HVAC systems, filtration systems and
stand alone air purifiers, not chemical or plasma systems which pose dangers to students.
They should monitor and post IAQ data for their schools and use the Tools for Schools program to
reduce harmful chemicals, pests and asthma triggers from their schools. Importantly, they should
hold more classes, lunches and recesses outside, where the air quality is often far better than indoors.

Shan Gordon, Well AP

Shan has engaged students in Baltimore in studying and improving the environmental conditions at their schools. He is always impressed with the students and depressed by the conditions at their schools.

13 Sep 2020

Healthy Students during Covid-19

by | posted in: Healthy Schools, Healthy Schools, Home | 0
Reading outside can be healthy and enjoyable, providing fresh air and vitamin D from the sunlight.
Studying and exercising in safe areas outdoors can be healthy and enjoyable, providing fresh air, sunshine and vitamin D.

When 161 Baltimore City Schools closed in response to COVID-19, about 70,000 schools opened in the homes of our students. The district has scrambled to provide meal services, computers and internet access to students. But what have we done to keep our students engaged and healthy?

Here are six areas where we could help students protect and improve their health and learning over the next four to six months.

1)Create safe and effective home learning environments. Baltimore has a legacy of lead poisoning and childhood asthma rates that are twice the state average.  Lead poisoning can lead to permanent learning disabilities. Asthma is the leading health cause of school absences.  Now that school hours are spent at home, students who live in homes with existing health hazards have extended exposure to harm. 

Using home health as a science project, we can help students use an online survey to assess whether their homes have health hazards. The students who find mold, water leaks, pests could request a video conference tour where they could show home health experts the conditions and receive advice on which problems their family can fix and whether they should receive help from the health department or the Green and Healthy Home Initiative.

Helping students create effective study areas to study, avoid distractions, and take breaks to keep themselves happy and alert is critical to helping students excel. Dancing, mindfulness, and exercise breaks can help students maintain their focus.

2)Chart exercise, nutrition, sleep, friendships and fun. This is a great way to teach students to collect and chart data, and it can help students build healthy behaviors. When teachers join this “Better You” challenge, they can inspire their students to join them in becoming their personal best.

3)Educate students on COVID-19 health strategies: We are partnering with teaching candidates at Morgan State University to engage students in the science and fun of Covid-19 safety. From why and how to wear a mask, to discovering how well they wash their hands (with ultra violet gel), to Tik-Tock dance challenges on Covid-19 safety tips, students will learn how to lower their risks during Covid-19.

4)Encourage students to teach their peers the best ways to stay safe at home and school. Students are more likely to listen to their cool peers on what they should do, so we will encourage our students to create videos, paintings, dances, and songs to teach their peers how to stay safe during Covid-19.

5)Involve students in planning for the return to schools. Students are able to see problems that teachers and administrators miss, and they are great at finding solutions. If you keep students out of the loop, you will have problems that you could have avoided.

6)Engage students in monitoring health conditions at the school when they return. Students perceive problems quickly and are eager to help solve them. As a science project, students would monitor crowding, ventilation, cleaning, and health behaviors at the school and innovate to improve the safety of students.

COVID-19 is terrible, but it is also a perfect authentic learning project that touches every subject and every student. Let’s not miss this opportunity to help our students learn and thrive.

7)Connect students and families to health care, social services, and food resources. During this pandemic and economic downturn, it is vital that students and their families are connected to the health and social services that they need. Our program will maintain a comprehensive listing of community resources and offer assistance in accessing the help they need.

2 Aug 2020

The Learning Project that could Save Your Life –and help your students thrive.

by | posted in: Blog, Healthy Schools, Home | 0
going-viral by .

Remember when the biggest fears of going back to school was whether your classroom was organized or your child had all the right supplies?   This year the questions are tougher:

Will returning to school sicken or kill you, your students, their parents or grandparents?

 If we don’t return, will our students lose the social interactions, safety, nutrition and learning which they need to grow?

If our goal as educators is to help protect and nurture our children, (and not die), we need to redesign how we engage our students.  We have to stop teaching subjects and start helping students solve problems.  As we switched to distance learning, some teachers joined together to create fabulous online lessons and projects for their students.  Some teachers have found ways to engage their students in social interactions, stress reduction, and ensured that they received food, computers and internet connections.   But way too many teachers have simply been trying to simply replicate their old classroom lessons online.  And way too many students are simply not showing up.

For years, we have talked about the benefits of student projects which span multiple subjects, of teaching to the whole child, of improving the health of our children because these things help our children thrive.  These were great ideas before COVID-19, they are absolutely vital now.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the ultimate breakout room exercise.  We have to solve a myriad of complex problems to be able to escape to safety.   No need to pay hundreds of dollars to get locked in a room with your team needing to solve problems–we are already in lock down.   

Been searching for an authentic learning project for our children and for educators?  How’s this one?

How can we improve our health and safety and thrive as learners and problem solvers?

During distance learning, here are steps that can help you and your students thrive.

  • Engage students in talking about their needs and wants during the pandemic.  What type of services, learning and contacts do they need? 
  • Create a dialogue and charting for a variety of success factors for students.  Nutrition, sleep, exercise, social contacts, volunteering.   By focusing on the factors that determine student performance, we will set up students for lifetime health and success.  Healthy students and teachers are less likely to catch and transmit COVID-19 and far less likely to die if they do contract it. 
  •  Engage students in learning how to improve the health and learning conditions at their homes. Baltimore’s childhood asthma rate is nearly twice the state average.  Learning how to improve the home air quality, how to create a study schedule, and how to create an effective study space can help students succeed.
  • Engage students in learning and communicating proper health behaviors to their peers.  Students more likely conform to a social norm from their peers than a rule by a school official. 
  • Share information on social and emotional resources: food, medical services, COVID-19 testing, where those with COVID-19 can go to isolate from their families.
  • Create teacher teams to produce the best lessons and the best social/ emotional support for students.  Frankly, some teachers are great at presenting material, and some are better at nurturing, guiding and supporting their students.  Distance learning enables teachers to work in the roles where they are most successful.
  • Engage students in teams to increase social interactions and learning as they study and solve complex problems together.
  • Engage students in talent and show and tell performances for their peers. 
  • Engage students in peer tutoring and knowledge exchange. 
  • Engage students and experts in health, building engineering and operations, data science, and social policy in understanding and improving factors that influence their health, safety and success.  (i.e. technology equity, resources, transportation and health care).
  • Collaborate with these same experts and students in developing a plan to reopen schools with safe behaviors and operations.  Students would prepare a plan for safe transportation, social distancing, disinfection of touch points, air ventilation and air flow, and alternative outdoor classes when appropriate.  Students and teachers would learn how to monitor health and safety factors for their school environment and operations. 

As schools reopen, students would monitor the health and safety factors at their schools and collaborate with school officials to offer suggestions and innovations to increase health and safety for students and school staff.

Let me know if you would like some help in doing this.

Shan 

410-336-8239

16 Nov 2018

The “No” Hypothesis

by | posted in: Blog, Healthy Schools, Healthy Schools, Multimedia, STEM | 0

 “I don’t think it will work”. 

was neatly printed across the answer box, under the word, hypothesis.

I looked up from her worksheet, bent my eyebrows into a question mark and punctuated it with a “huh?”

The student shrugged a shoulder, but her face was sure and solid. “ I don’t think it will work.”

“Nothing is going to happen.”  Her tone wasn’t angry, or even disappointed.  Just calling it the way she saw it.  Seemed like she’d seen a lot of “nothing is going to happen,” and this just seemed like the next one in line.

We’ve been working in her class to help students study and improve the conditions in their school.

We’ve talked about things students wanted to change at their school and how we can study them, and innovate to create improvements.  One group of students wants to make school lunches better.  Another group wants to find a way to control the temperatures in their classrooms.  A third group wants to reduce asthma triggers and asthma attacks.

This student had noticed that the bathrooms were a mess.  Some of the sinks didn’t work. The toilets were often plugged up, and toilet paper could be missing.  Sometimes there wasn’t even a bathroom monitor around to open the door.

Her project was to check the bathrooms and report on their condition to the janitor and the bathroom monitor. 

But “nobody’s gonna do anything.”, she said.  Matter of fact.

Science is supposed to be calculating and methodical. Just the facts, based on what we know.   Based on a long line of “nobody’s gonna do anything,” her hypothesis that “It won’t work” is a likely outcome.

But the soul of science and innovation is hope—that we can find ways to make things better.                        

Poor health and learning conditions in our schools steal from our children. When students swelter through heat waves and shiver in the winter; when poor ventilation and asthma triggers sap the energy and health of students, there are no sirens that alert us to this theft.  No data is collected to show us the loss of potential caused by these conditions.  In the city with the highest asthma rates in the state, we don’t even track absences due to asthma at our schools.

When these poor conditions become the expected norm, it breaks the hope which is fundamental to science and education.   If nothing’s going to happen, why try?

I don’t know which hypothesis is more likely to prove true.

 But whether students can create their own improvements and hope in Baltimore schools—that’s a very important experiment.  Science teachers, consider trying it with your students.

4 Nov 2018

Oh, They Breathe? Connecting Schools to Student Needs.

by | posted in: Healthy Schools | 0

You get what you measure.  When schools measure their success by the answers on test results, the importance of other factors, like physical,  social, and emotional health can be left out of the equation.

schools need to meet the needs of their students

Study after study will point out the importance of exercise in improving the health and learning of students, but physical education and recess are reduced to add more time and resources to tested subjects.   

Study after study will detail the importance of school conditions on the health and learning of students, but districts often fail to make needed repairs and renovations which could improve those conditions.  This is particularly true in poor school districts like Baltimore City Public Schools, which have suffered frequent budget cuts. 

Heating and Cooling

It is inadequate heating and air conditioning in Baltimore City Public Schools that has grabbed headlines.  Last winter when boilers failed, several schools closed for emergency repairs.  This year, many schools were closed half days for a week due to inadequate air conditioning.   It is stunning when our schools cannot provide moderate temperatures for our children which we would expect in any store, government or office building or prison.  The loss of classroom time and the disruption of academic and family schedules is tragic.  But temperature is only one of the factors that affects student performance.

Ventilation

Ventilation rates in many Baltimore City Public Schools are inadequate.  High Co2 levels can reduce student performance; inadequate air exchanges leave students breathing higher levels of indoor pollutants, increasing the likelihood of illness and asthma attacks.   In freezing winter days, you can see whole lines of windows open at some schools as teachers are trying to lower the temperatures in their overheated classrooms.  I used to squirm at the thought of the energy this wasted.  I still squirm, but I’m at least comforted that students are getting ample fresh air.

Asthma triggers

Dust, pests, mold and chemicals are frequent triggers of asthma attacks.  Schools with poor maintenance are more likely to have more asthma triggers.   Leaky roofs and plumbing can produce mold hazards, inadequate cleaning and pest control can result in airborne dust and pest allergens.    Children in Baltimore are twice as likely to have been diagnosed with asthma than children in Maryland as a whole, so asthma triggers in Baltimore City Public Schools may be sending a disproportionately high percentage of Baltimore children home or to a hospital with an asthma attack.  But we don’t know, because the school district does not track absences due to asthma. 

Nutrition

Baltimore City Public Schools offers free breakfast and lunch to all students, but not all students are eating these meals.  Many students arrive after breakfast service has ended.  Students often suggest that schools should offering fresher, more appealing food items.

Lighting

Classroom lighting is often cited as having a strong correlation to student learning and performance.  Most studies find that proper lighting, particularly from natural light sources (windows) is strongly correlated to student learning.  Some classrooms don’t have sufficient window light, but in many others, teachers are choosing to block out natural lighting for a variety of reasons: to project lessons on a screen, to control student behavior, to control classroom temperatures, or the blinds are inoperable. 

Building awareness of the effect of lighting in classrooms and developing appropriate choices for teachers could improve student health and learning.

Acoustics

Classroom acoustics determines whether students can hear the instruction, collaborate with each other, and focus on their work.  Loud fans, noise from other classrooms, loud announcement systems and bells can detract from the learning environment. 

A STEM Learning Project which connects schools to the needs of their students.

When students and teachers study how they can improve the health and learning conditions at their school, they are emerged in a hands on scientific investigation into improving their own environment and performance.   This can help connect the school to the physical, emotional, social and academic needs of students.

Here are some projects students could do at their schools. 

What is the optimal amount and source of light in classrooms?

  1. Test Light levels in 4 classrooms
  2. Test students
  3. Alter light levels (open blinds in 2 classrooms /turn off lights in 2 classrooms)
  4. Test students
  5. Survey students/teachers on their preferences for lighting

What is the existing range for temperature and humidity in our classrooms?  What is the optimal range?

  1. Select rooms to test
  2. Collect temp, humidity data
  3. Test students
  4. Control temp/(or wait until cold/hot temperatures)
  5. Test students
  6. Compare results.
  7. Survey students on the best temperature ranges.

What is the existing water quality at our school?:

  Test bacteria in water dispensers

  Test lead in water supply

  Test from inside school

  Test sidewalk near bus

Can students improve nutrition at the school?

 How old is the food?

 How much food waste?

 Are there other sources for food or ways to improve freshness and nutritional offerings?

 How many students refuse or choose not to eat?

 Survey and/or observe which students eat, which don’t.

 What effect do the vending machines have on student nutrition?  

How can we increase the number of students who eat breakfast?

Survey students

Test group of students in 1 or 2 classes.

Note: mice and cockroaches love leftovers.  If students eat in classrooms, they need to clean up.

How do asthma triggers affect student health and learning at our school?

Who has asthma?

How many asthma absences?

Survey

What are the asthma triggers in school?

Chemicals, cleaning agents, pests, dust, air quality.

How to quantify pests?

Survey, Pest Log, glue traps,

 

How do locked, dirty bathrooms affect students?

Are bathrooms available to students when needed?

Are bathrooms supplied and clean?

Survey students and teachers

Interview bathroom monitors, staff.

Can plants and air filters improve air quality in our school?

Measure and monitor air quality in classrooms

Introduce plants which clean air into one classroom

Introduce mechanical air filters into another clasroom

Remeasure the air quality in the classrooms

Compare the air quality in the test and control rooms.

Survey students and teachers on their opinions on air quality.in their classrooms.

Reporting Findings and Recommendations

The key to these projects are in the final steps: how do students innovate to try to solve these issues, how they report on their findings to their class, and to school and government officials. 

28 Oct 2017

Learning to Live In Baltimore

by | posted in: Blog, Healthy Schools | 0

 

How schools can improve the health of students and their communities

The 2017 Neighborhood Health Report by the Baltimore City Health Department is hard to read.                               It spells out the stark disparities and desperation in our city with a clarity that is hard to confront.                           We don’t want the details about homicides, increasing overdoses, and low life expectancy to be about our city–but they are.   

It is no secret that death comes easy in Baltimore.  Average life expectancy here is 73.6 years, about five years less than the national average of 78.8 and six years less than the Maryland state average of 79.5.  This is disturbing, but when we compare life expectancy of our neighborhoods, the disparities are glaring.   

The Clifton-Berea (94.9% African American, median income $25,738) has a life expectancy of 66.9 years while Cross-Country/Cheswolde (72.9% White, median income $54,868) has a life expectancy of 87.1 years.   

This is a 20-year difference between life expectancy in a predominantly white, middle income neighborhood and a black, lower income neighborhood. We know that our neighborhoods have long been divided along    racial and economic lines, but this gap isn’t just the shadow of our segregated history, it’s the misery of life in poor, segregated neighborhoods today.

Chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes and obesity are the leading causes of death in Baltimore and the nation.  In 2014, approximately one third of Baltimore City residents were obese.  Obesity is linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Drugs and alcohol overdose deaths increased 56.6% from 2015 to 2016 when 694 people died.   Homicides, most related to drugs, add to this total of drug related deaths. There were 318 Homicides in 2016.   On the 300th day of 2017, 291 homicides have been recorded, a rate of nearly one a day. 

How long will we allow this misery to exist?                                                                                                          What will we do now to change these brutal statistics in the years ahead?

If our schools are truly preparing children for life, we need to ensure that they won’t suffer the same chronic diseases, addictions, and violence a few years into the future. 

Growing the mind, body and spirit of our children, their families, and their community should be the primary goal of our schools.   This is a key shift in how we now view the mission and role of schools.  

 

Here is a quick checklist.  How is your school doing?

  • Is every child getting good nutrition and learning to create healthy meals?
  • Is every child getting an hour of exercise every day?
  • Is every child getting regular medical, dental, and vision checkups?
  • Is every child offered mental health services?
  • Is every child offered meditation or yoga training to relieve stress?
  • Is every child connected to trusted adult mentors?
  • Is every child offered time to learn and play in nature?
  • Is every child learning conflict resolution and peer conflict mediation?            
  • Is every child taking health information home to their families on health access, addiction treatment programs, jobs and social services?
  • Is your school free from asthma triggers like mice, cockroaches, dust, bus idling, air fresheners and toxic cleaning materials?
  • Are classroom temperatures between 65 and 78 degrees?
  • Do students have free access to water and bathrooms?

                                      

Some of this is happening now. 

Some schools have yoga and meditation centers; some are improving their nutrition and outdoor education programs; some are instituting peer conflict mediation programs; some have health suites and vision care for students.  Some schools are involved with THREAD, which provides mentors for at risk students.

 

Some is not enough. 

Every school needs to meet the human needs of every child. This isn’t easy, and schools are already overwhelmed. Expanding out of school programs, integrating community programs, and bringing in more volunteers from the community can help create this change.

If we realign education to the needs of our students, they will do better in school–and in life. They will be ready to reclaim Baltimore and the years of life which are rightfully theirs.                                                  -shan

 

 

Want to learn more about health in Baltimore City? 

Here is a link to the 2017 health report on Baltimore City as a whole. 

https://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/NHP%202017%20-%2000%20Baltimore%20City%20(overall)%20(rev%206-22-17).pdf

 

Here is the link to download the individual neighborhood profiles:

https://health.baltimorecity.gov/neighborhoods/neighborhood-health-profile-reports

 

Here are links to a variety of health maps.

 

2013 life expectancy:

http://baltimore.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=7c85a6d5b958496d863e738234373934

Teen birth rate

http://baltimore.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=7c85a6d5b958496d863e738234373934

Violent crime 2013

http://baltimore.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=7c85a6d5b958496d863e738234373934

Avertable deaths 2011

http://health.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/Map_Healthy%20Baltimore%20-%20Avertable%20Deaths.pdf

2015 homicide epidemic

http://baltimore.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=995f2e81bd664b478a9039741c62ea3a

11 Sep 2017

Students Test Their Schools

by | posted in: Blog, Environment, Environmental Education, Healthy Schools, STEM | 0

Students Test their Schools

Students at Patterson High School and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute are about to get new science and environmental health laboratories: their schools.

Johns Hopkins and Cool Green Schools are partnering on a community research grant to provide three classes of high school students with mentors, testing equipment, and funding so they can study and improve the health and learning conditions in their school environments. 

Students will work with Keith Madigan, a building engineer, to collect data on environmental conditions which affect their health and learning. They will monitor several conditions including: temperature, humidity, acoustics, lighting, asthma triggers, VOC’s, 2.5ppm and Co2.

Two public health students from Johns Hopkins, Arshdeep Kaur and Madison Dutson, will introduce students to environmental health research, demonstrate an environmental health study, and mentor students.

The high school students will propose and conduct their own research projects.  The grant provides students with testing equipment, $4,000 dollars to study and improve their school environments, and $1,000 dollars to communicate their findings.

This student research project will offer innovative STEM learning opportunities for students, but school facility staff, researchers and educators may learn important lessons from this project as well.  

Stay tuned, we will post updates on this project as it evolves.

Shan