Please support amendment to ESEA - send letter

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----- Original Message -----

From: <Healthyschools@...>

: PLS SIGN ON TO LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's

Healthy

: and High Performance Schools amendment to the Elementary and Secondary

: Education Act (ESEA) that passed the Senate. It sets up a $2 million

study

: of the impacts of decayed environments on child health and learning and

: provides $50 million for information and incentives for

: nonpolluting/renewable HVAC, etc. Since the amendment was not in the House

: version of ESEA, the overall bill, with this and other amendments, will go

to

: conference committee shortly to negotiate the differences.

:

: This sign-on letter below will be sent to conference committee members as

: soon as they are appointed.

:

: SEND YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME/CITY/STATE TO HEALTHYSCHOOLS@...

: _____________________________________________________

: AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION

: and

: HEALTHY SCHOOLS NETWORK, INC.

: July xx, 2001

:

: TO Members of ESEA Conference Com

:

: Re: Support Senate " Healthy and High Performance Schools " amendment to

: ESEA

: The undersigned local, state, and national environment, public health,

: parent, labor, and education organizations write to urge you to include

: Senator Clinton's " Healthy and High Performance Schools " amendment in the

: final conference report for S. 1, the Better Education for Students and

: Teachers Act. The amendment was adopted by voice vote during the Senate's

: consideration of S. 1.

:

: As you seek to improve educational outcomes for all children and greater

: accountability from local schools, we must not allow school facilities

: themselves to undermine or threaten children's health or educational

: attainment. In 1995 and again in 1999, the US Government Accounting

Office

: and the National Center for Education Statistics documented facility

: environmental problems such as indoor air pollution, poor ventilation,

poor

: lighting and inadequate plumbing and heating that are adversely affecting

: child health and learning. Asthma, often triggered by poor indoor air

: quality, is the leading cause of school absenteeism. Children who are

absent

: from school or who are sick while there, will have trouble learning.

:

: While 'green' buildings -- such as the President's new ranch in Texas --

that

: boast of superior energy efficiency and indoor air quality are

increasingly

: common in the private residential and commercial sectors, almost none of

the

: nation's 91,000 schools have had access to the combined information and

: incentives for this kind of commonsense investment in their own

facilities.

: The nation will clearly not reap the full benefits of its investment in

: education without addressing facility environmental quality issues through

: carefully targeted actions.

:

: The Senate-passed Healthy and High Performance Schools amendment would

: advance educational reform and accountability in two ways. First, the

: amendment would authorize a $2 million 18-month study carried out by the

US

: Department of Education in conjunction with the Centers for Disease

Control

: and in consultation with the US Environmental Protection Agency and US

: Department of Energy to illuminate the impacts of decayed and dilapidated

: schools on health and learning, and to recommend ways to assist schools

and

: to improve the monitoring of conditions. Second, the amendment would

initiate

: a $50 million High Performance Schools Program at the US Department of

: Education that would provide information and education to existing

schools,

: as well as incentives, for investments in energy-efficient, nonpolluting

: heating and ventilating and other building systems.

:

: We urge you to include this important public health measure affecting 47.2

: million children and 5.6 million school employees in the final conference

: report. This provision is vital to improving the learning environments

for

: millions of our children in communities and neighborhoods across America.

:

: Sincerely,

:

:

: American Public Health Association

: Coalition for Environmentally Safe Schools

: Eco-Integrations

: Healthy Schools Network, Inc.

: Healthy Kids: Key to Basics

: Institute for Children's Environmental Health

: _________________________________________________________________

: for more information, please call:

:

: L. Barnett, MBA, Executive Director

: Healthy Schools Network, Inc.

: 773 Madison Avenue

: Albany, NY 12208

: 518-462-0632

: www.healthyschools.org

: ...environmentally healthy schools for students, for personnel, and for

: communities, through research, information, education, and advocacy...

:

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