Healthy Schools PA, a program of Women for a Healthy Environment, helps parents, teachers, staff, and administrators to identify and remedy environmental risk factors in schools, so that children can thrive and learn in healthy, toxic-free settings.
By providing tools, training, and children’s environmental health expertise, Healthy Schools PA acts as a bridge between communities and their schools, effectively creating an advocacy network capable of bringing about social and policy change throughout the school system.
Close to 2 million students are currently enrolled in public schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to students, thousands of teachers and staff members spend about 1,000 hours a year in school buildings and on school grounds. There, they are exposed to environmental hazards including, but not limited to:
- Poor air quality
- Toxic building materials
- Pesticides
- Lead and radon
These health risks are discussed far too infrequently. Healthy Schools PA works to increase awareness in the school systems about environmental health factors and supports policies that directly correlate to improved health outcomes and academic performance.
Program Goals:
- Serve as a central voice and hub for information across the region by engaging students, parents, community leaders, and school district personnel.
- Increase awareness in the school systems about environmental health factors.
- Provide samples of policies that directly correlate to improved health outcomes and academic performance.
- Develop a platform that connects organizations such as Parent-Teacher Associations, state agencies, and non-government organizations to encourage collaboration.
