Normal Green: How Clean Is the Air Around Your Child's School?

One of the many papers I had to fill out when I enrolled my daughter in kindergarten at our local public school was a form to notify parents when pesticides were going to be sprayed in and around the school. Did I want to be notified? Yes, of course I did, but it seemed a mere formality. What recourse did I really have to prevent pesticides from being used? We all know how bureaucratic schools are and how powerless parents sometimes seem. Would I pull my child from school if poisons were used? I am not sure, since I do send my child to school every day knowing harsh chemicals are being used to clean and sanitize the schools.

So far I haven't received any notification, and am not quite sure what I would do if I received one, but if the school is using pesticides where my child will be playing, then at minimum I want to know about it.

The right to breathe clean air is one of our children's most basic rights, but a recent USA Today study shows just how few children in our nation are breathing clean air outside their schools. An appalling number of schools in our nation have such toxic pollution in the air outside that many students are potentially at risk for health problems ranging from asthma to cancer. Think recess, think P.E., think open windows. This is a huge problem.

USA Today mapped the location of almost 128,000 schools (public, private and parochial) to determine the levels of toxic chemicals in the air outside. Ramona Trovato, the former director of the Office of Children's Health Protection at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), says:  "There are health and safety standards for adults in the workplace, but there are no standards for children at schools … [and] … "If a parent complains, there's no law that requires anybody to do anything. It's beyond belief."

Activist group Moms Rising is urging its members — and anyone who is concerned about clean air — to take action. Here's how:

Demand that the EPA does its job. Under the current administration, monitoring programs that keep tabs on the safety of our air have been slashed. This needs to change. Sign a letter to Congress, and to the leaders of President-elect Obama's transition team for the environment. Ask them to make protecting our children a top priority: www.momsrising.org/notoxicschools.

Get the facts on the quality of air around schools in your area. When you go to the MomsRising website to sign on to the letter, you can also find out about the air quality for your local schools. How?  USA Today has created an online searchable database were you can find the level of toxics in the air at specific schools around the country. Look up your school district, and read about how to understand the data at www.momsrising.org/notoxicschools.

If you have a child in a school with potential problems and want to do more, share the information with principal, the PTA and other parents. You can also call the president of your local school board or your city/town council to urge them to directly monitor toxic emissions exposure. And if you live in an industrial community, Global Community Monitor (www.gcmonitor.org) is a nonprofit organization that helps residents monitor their own neighborhoods to reduce health threats.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with this problem and then act. Let's make sure that all of our citizens, from the youngest to the oldest, have access to clean air.