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Indoor Air Quality
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National Information
Related Information
Region 9 Children's Health: Asthma, Lead
Contact Information for Indoor Air Quality Issues in Region 9 States
Indoor Air Public Service Announcement
Click to play
in Windows Media Player (6 min.)
The Tools for Schools video, produced by Oakland Berkeley Community Action to Fight Asthma, a project of the Ethnic Health Institute, shows how school students and staff can adopt the Tools for Schools Program to address the growing problem of children's asthma by reducing indoor environmental asthma triggers in classrooms.
Windows Media Player is available for free download, compatible with all major operating systems. 
The quality of indoor environments is as important to protecting our health as the outdoor environment. In fact, Americans spend almost 90 percent of the time indoors - inside our homes, offices, schools, and even cars and buses. However, concentrations of some chemical substances are often 2-5 times greater indoors, and in some situations can be as much as 100 times greater. Read more basic information about indoor air quality.
Clean Air in Schools
Clean air in schools is especially important for our children and school staff. It can reduce asthma episodes and improve their health as well as their ability to teach and learn. EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Program is a voluntary and commonsense approach to improving the air quality inside schools. It’s being used by thousands of school districts across the country.
Tools for Schools:
Great Start Award for Merced High School
Shelly Rosenblum traveled to Merced to present Merced High School with a Tools for Schools Great Start Award and to participate in a panel discussion for the Merced-Mariposa County Asthma Coalition's World Asthma Day press conference attended by local print media. Also on the panel was Alicia Bohlke, Chair, Merced-Mariposa County Asthma Coalition; Tom Scheidt, Principal, Merced High School; Sheila Whitley, President, Merced Union High School District Teachers Association; and Dr. John Aleman, Golden Valley Health Centers. The Tools for Schools district pilot project at Merced HS was initiated by the Asthma Coalition and has received strong support from the school principal and district nurse. Shelly's discussion during the press conference focused on how the walk-through of the school, several months ago clearly demonstrated how the Tools for Schools program can make dramatic improvements in school indoor air quality.
Merced-Mariposa Asthma Coalition's press release (PDF) (2 pp, 22K, About PDF)
Feature Story: Good Classroom Indoor Air Quality, Children's Health Month
During a tour of City Terrace School in Los Angeles, CA, Principal Christopher Ortiz explained how the EPA’s Tools for Schools Program taught his staff how to improve the air quality inside their school by not blocking air ducts, reducing indoor environmental asthma triggers, minimizing pets and immediately reporting water intrusion which might lead to mold growth.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has been a strong advocate for Tools for Schools. Region 9's Indoor Environments Team has provided a small grant to the LAUSD School Nursing Program to teach school nurses about the program and to recruit them as Indoor Air Coordinators, i.e. the person who is knowledgeable about the program at each school and will teach the staff about it. So far, the Nursing Program has implemented Tools for Schools in about 150 schools.
Press release (10/27/07)
Contact Information
The Indoor Environments Team works with a wide range of health agencies, health organizations, school and school-related organizations. For more information, please contact:
Shelly Rosenblum (rosenblum.shelly@epa.gov)
(415) 947-4193