You asked about the "Tools for Schools" program and how it is being used in Connecticut.

SUMMARY

Tools for Schools is a program that helps schools improve their indoor air quality. In Connecticut, 108 schools in 26 districts currently use the program in some form. The legislature's Environment Committee reported favorably a bill requiring school districts to use Tools for Schools or similar programs to address indoor environmental issues.

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS PROGRAM

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit to help schools identify and address indoor air quality issues. Schools and districts throughout Connecticut have implemented the program through the efforts of the Connecticut School Indoor Environment Resource Team (CSIERT), a consortium of 16 agencies and organizations. Participating members are:

1. American Lung Association of Connecticut;

2. CT Association of Boards of Education;

3. CT Association of Local Health Directors;

4. CT School Building & Grounds Association;

5. CT Council for Occupational Safety & Health;

6. CT Department of Environmental Protection;

7. CT Department of Education;

8. CT Department of Labor, Division of Occupational Safety and Health;

9. CT Department of Public Health;

10. CT Education Association;

11. CT Federation of Educational & Professional Employees;

12. Southeast CT Indoor Air Quality Coalition;

13. UCONN Health Center - Division of Occupational & Environmental Medicine Program;

14. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region I;

15. U. S. Department of Higher Education, Office for Civil Rights; and

16. Yale Occupational & Environmental Medicine Program

CSIERT also includes indoor air quality specialists, industrial hygienists, epidemiologists, educators, and trainers.

The Tools for Schools training program has two parts. The first component involves members of CSIERT's resource team presenting the program to a school's staff and administrators. If the school decides to participate, the resource team sets up the training to help it implement the program. The school recruits its own team, made up of a (1) teacher, (2) parent, (3) administrator, (4) nurse, and (5) maintenance worker or custodian. The training shows the team members how to use the materials in their kits to do initial testing.

According to Kenny Foscue of Connecticut's Public Health Department, Tools for Schools gives schools a system for identifying problems in their indoor environment and helps them come up with solutions. It walks them through the process of identifying and testing for problems with specific checklists for each occupation in the school. The school resource team compiles a report of the information it has gathered. Six to eight weeks after the first training, the CSIERT resource team returns with industrial hygienists and other specialists to train school employees in making visual inspections and assessments to confirm the report and find new problems.

Once the resource team identifies a problem, it must figure out: (1) the problem's priority level, (2) what fixing it would cost, (3) who should implement or be responsible for a solution, and (4) by what date. Through this process, Foscue says, schools get a good assessment of what is going on in their facilities and how to address the problems. The EPA wants schools to implement a new cycle of identifying, testing, and solving indoor air quality problems each year.

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS IN CONNECTICUT

According to CSIERT's most recent information, 108 schools in 26 districts are currently using Tools for Schools at some level, and more then 50 schools' programs have been in place long enough to collect and survey data. Twelve more districts are considering or planning to use the program. CSIERT wants whole districts to implement the program in all of their schools. Hamden was the first district to do so. The following districts have implemented Tools for Schools:

1. Ashford

2. Bethel

3. Branford

4. Bridgeport

5. Brookfield

6. Chester

7. Danbury

8. Enfield

9. Fairfield

10. Groton

11. Hamden

12. Hartford

13. Hebron

14. Madison

15. New Fairfield

16. New London

17. Orange

18. Plainfield

19. Putnam

20. Sherman

21. South Windsor

22. Stratford

23. Thomaston

24. Wilton

25. Woodbridge

26. Wolcott

Small and medium-sized districts have participated more than large districts, Foscue says. But the EPA gave Hartford a $ 30,000 grant to work with UCONN's Occupational & Environmental Medicine Program to get the entire district involved. The project will begin this spring.

The EPA also gave CSIERT an award for helping to improve indoor air quality in Connecticut schools. It was one of 13 awards given nationally. The EPA's press release announcing the award calls CSIERT "a one-stop resource for schools that need help with the basics of indoor air quality to the most sophisticated of issues. " Robert Varney, regional administrator for EPA New England, said schools using Tools for Schools are "seeing tangible reductions in asthma episodes. "

2002 LEGISLATION

The Education and Environment committees each proposed are indoor air quality bill in the 2002 session. House bills 5039 and 5707 were both reported favorably to the floor. The Environment Committee's bill specifically requires school districts to implement the Tools for School program. The Education Committee's bill does not mention it.

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