COALITION FOR HEALTHIER SCHOOLS
Customizable Blog
For Release Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Back to School with Green and Healthy Products, August 2015
(byline—insert your name, organization, date)
Are you ready for the coming school year? Take this simple test:
Q1. Would you like to help your school save money this school year?
Q2. Would you like children, teachers, and other staff to stay healthier this school year?
If you answered yes to either Q1 or Q2, then you will want to know more about using green and healthy
products inside schools.
Maintaining a healthy learning environment is an important part of making sure that every child can learn. But
all too often, conventional products—from computers to paints to cleaning supplies—expose school occupants
to toxic chemicals that can pollute the indoor air. Children and staff who can't concentrate, or miss school, or
are uncomfortable in class will not succeed this year. Fortunately, reducing toxic chemicals in products will
reduce air pollutants inside schools and thus will benefit all occupants, especially those with asthma or
environmental sensitivities.
Here is what we –[- (name of your organization) -- say about green and healthy products in schools.
And here are a few ways you can help your school use a wide range of greener products, whether you are a
parent or a member of the community or staff.
--Select nontoxic (low emission) school supplies, such as nontoxic markers and pens, and notebooks and
binders made without PVC plastics.
-- Select EPEAT-rated electronics to minimize toxic chemicals, reduce the disposal costs of outdated
electronics, and save on energy. (EPEAT is a certification system for greener electronics).
--Do not send cleaning or disinfecting products from home to school to use in classrooms.
--Ask your local school if it is using money-saving, third-party certified green cleaning products (reliable
certifiers are Green Seal (US) and UL-E (EcoLogo). If your school is already using green products, those can
be diluted with plain water for wiping up sticky spills in classrooms.
-- Ask your local school if it plans to do any interior painting in the coming year, and if so, ask it to buy lowemission, third-party certified interior wall or ceiling paints. These will help reduce indoor air pollutants.
And a final tip: given the XTreme Weather last year, make sure you and your school are planning for more
XTremes.
-- Ask if your school has a REHEARSED plan for all phases of XTreme Weather: preparation, response,
recovery. What entity will be responsible for ensuring that a disaster-damaged school is ready for reoccupancy by children?
There are many resources and tip sheets to help you get started on reducing chemical hazards inside schools.
Visit www.cleaningforhealthyschools.org for its Toolkit on Green Cleaning and Toolkit on Healthy Products.
Here are two links for XTreme Weather planning for schools:
http://www.ready.gov/school-emergency-plans
http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/emergencyplan/index.html
(name of organization) is.... insert a blurb about your group as a participant in the national Coalition for
Healthier Schools.
Reminder: When promoting on social media, use #backtoschool for promotion.