Robert Dupree
A. Healthy Schools /Environmental
Hazards
It is well documented that children
are most susceptible to environmental hazards in their
environment. Under current policy, our
children are potentially exposed in school to
environmental hazards such as
pesticides, commercial cleaning products, lead, mold, poor indoor
air quality (especially in portable
classrooms), and industrial emissions at and around school. As
more is learned about the effect on
student health of these hazards, school systems nationwide
are seeking alternatives to
pesticides, herbicides and toxic cleaning materials whenever possible
and seeking to use the least-toxic
alternatives when constructing new schools.
1. Do you support the creation of an
interdepartmental task force to review and revise
maintenance practices and materials
policies to improve the health and safety of our students?
YES NO
Environmental Hazards Comments:
The knee-jerk answer to the
question you pose would be �Yes, of course that�s a good idea, who could be
against that?�� But you asked us to be
honest, and having attended and participated in over 100 Finance Committee
meetings since joining the School Board and having actually worked in great
detail with all LCPS department for the past five years, I know and can
honestly say that an interdepartmental task force would not be necessary.� That is because, under our current
structure, every one of these items � pesticides, cleaning products, indoor air
quality, etc. � already falls solely within the purview of one department, the
Department of Support Services.� The
other departments (Business & Finance, Planning, Pupil Services, Personnel,
Public Information and Curriculum & Instruction) simply have no
responsibility over such matters and their involvement would not be
needed.� And they certainly have other
responsibilities.� It is the Department
of Support Services that is responsible for the construction and the
maintenance of every aspect of our school campuses, including the driveways,
parking lots, stormwater management, the buildings themselves, the lawns, the
playgrounds, the competition playing fields -- everything.�
The Finance, Construction
& Site Acquisition Committee, which I chaired for two years and on which I
have served for four years, regularly looks into these types of issues.� In fact, three years ago, we did a
comprehensive overview of our school facilities.�
The Assistant
Superintendent for Support Services has professionals who report to him on all
of the issues raised in this preamble, and they are very sensitive to the need
to protect our children from environmental hazards.� They already do, as you suggest, regularly review and revise
maintenance practices and materials policies in order to improve the health and
safety of our students.� So an
interdepartmental task force to do this would be redundant.� Should the Department of Support Services
ever be divided and some of its functions split, then I would expect an
interdepartmental effort would be needed and should occur.
Regarding some of your
specific concerns, our school playgrounds already are not treated with
herbicides (although high school competition playing fields are fertilized to
ensure their suitability for competition).�
LCPS also strives to avoid if at all possible any kind of chemical
pesticides and to eliminate the use of toxic cleaning products.� Our Support Services personnel work to
prevent mold from ever appearing through a strict inspection and maintenance
program and regularly scheduled replacement of roofs, windows, ceiling tiles,
carpets, etc. that might promote mold � if a section of ceiling shows moisture,
not only is that section supposed to be replaced but the cause of the moisture is
supposed to be found and corrected.��
And when we replace items, we generally look to see if we can do so
using even more environmentally friendly products, such as with respect to our
carpeting we now buy which does not pose nearly the environmental issues that
carpeting did fifteen years ago.�
Finally, I have opposed
suggestions by some supervisors/board members that, rather than building new
facilities, we should simply use more portable classrooms, and my opposition to
portables is in part due to the very thing you mentioned � their susceptibility
to environmental hazards.� It is my hope
we can not only avoid installing any more portables but that we can ultimately
phase out the use of the portables we have now, but this will not be easy given
the continued explosive growth we must deal with.�
�
B. Healthy Schools /School Nutrition
Research shows that efforts to
improve school health and nutrition have significant impact on
school performance. Childhood obesity
and other chronic diseases are at epidemic levels;
research shows that this is very
closely linked to poor nutritional intake in children. Loudoun
County, with our good soil and rural
farms has the unique opportunity to initiate reforms to
improve the health of our children
through food policies and education. Please rank the following
initiatives according to your
priorities (#1 through 8):
� 3 ��Restrict sale of candy, soda,
sweets at/through the school
� 6 ��Adopt a �Healthy snacks� and
�Healthy Parties� policy
� 1 ��Upgrade the nutritional quality
of food offered in school lunches
� 8 ��Initiate partnerships between
local farms and school food-service
� 7 ��Incorporate in-school kitchen
gardens and local food economy education
� 2 ��Provide meal preparation and
food selection workshops
� 4 ��Teach the significance of
packaging and processed foods to ecological and personal health
� 5 ��Reinforce learned concepts by
extending education to parents
2. As a school board member, will
you show your commitment to student health by initiating an
initial review and follow-up trial
programs to improve food service offerings (lunches, vending
machines, extra-curricular
fund-raising food sales) YES NO
(see
comments below)
3. The first step in changing practices
is educating. Will you support the creation and adoption
of food selection curriculum for
students and parents guided by sustainability and personal health
concepts? YES
NO
(see comments below)
Healthy Schools Comments:
Since I joined
the School Board five years ago, we have worked to significantly improve the
nutritional content of meals and eliminate access where possible to items
deemed to be less healthy than other alternatives.� So the answers to your questions are not only yes, but we have
already been doing this and will continue to do so.� With my support, the School Board adopted a goal that �LCPS will
address student obesity through programs developed to improve nutrition and
promote physical fitness through lifetime activities.�� In keeping with this, we have worked to
utilize the Scorecard for Healthy Kids to assess and improve our offerings, and
to reduce our transfat content significantly below the limits imposed by the
federal government, eliminate fried foods and give students additional,
healthier items to choose from such as fruits and vegetables.� To promote greater awareness among parents
and students of this issue, LCPS is now publishing a list of the nutritional
content and ingredients for every item on our menus.
My own
children have been in our schools for eighteen years, and I have observed
first-hand the dramatic improvements in the content of their meals and
reduction in their exposure to unhealthy foods.� Our principals, who have the direct, day-to-day responsibility
for running their schools, have taken our direction and worked to develop their
own plans and procedures to promote more nutritional choices for children
outside of the lunchroom.� Finally, our
health classes have increasingly emphasized the importance of good nutritional
habits, and I will urge the educational professionals in our Instruction
Department to continue considering ways of further improving our curriculum in
this area.
�Green building� is a loosely
defined collection of land-use, building design, and construction
strategies that reduce the
environmental impacts that buildings have on their surroundings.
Conventionally constructed buildings
consume more of our resources than necessary, generate
large amounts of waste, and expose
inhabitants to environmental hazards through their materials
and design. In addition to
consideration of materials and architecture, building location &
transportation are considered in
designing a green building
Loudoun County Schools is poised to
follow the lead of Arlington, Fairfax and Montgomery
Counties in adopting school
construction & maintenance standards and policies that improve
school performance, save money in
life-cycle costs, and provide a model for other Loudoun
industries to follow.
4. Would you support changes to the
school building standards to accommodate sustainable
features that would provide a
healthier environment for our children, use resources sustainably
and generate life cycle cost savings
for the taxpayers? YES
NO
Green Schools Comments:
In fact, at the beginning of this year, as Chairman
of the School Board it was my idea to ask Mrs. Godfrey, the chairman of the
Finance, Construction & Site Acquisition Committee, to schedule time later in
the spring to initiate discussions with the environmental community and our
Department of Support Services on how we can make our facilities even more
environmentally friendly.� She
subsequently held a meeting of the committee at which time our architects and
staff explained what we were already doing.�
While I was pleased with that report, I believe we should look for ways
to do more, and I urged that the advocates of green building meet separately
with our architects and construction department to further identify in greater
detail not only what was already being done but what more could be done.�
However, as everyone knows, we are dependent upon the
Board of Supervisors for our funding, and this year they arbitrarily imposed a
10 percent cut on future constructions costs without any advance discussion
with the School Board or any, in my view, defensible rationale for this
cut.� It is my hope that the School
Board will have the opportunity to have a discussion with the new Board of
Supervisors and make them aware that we are already building schools that are,
by every measure, cost-competitive with other jurisdictions in Virginia.� They need to know that, if we are to explore
ways of further reducing our long-term costs by incorporating even more environmentally
friendly features, we will need to have the flexibility to be able to spend a
little bit more in initial outlays if that is needed to generate life cycle
savings.� Building green can be
cost-efficient in the long-run and thus good for the taxpayers, but we need the
support of the Board of Supervisors.� I
was also very disappointed that some supervisors complained about the projected
construction cost of our proposed new Monroe Advanced Technology Academy, which
incorporated a campus design and LEEDS certification per the direction of the
Urban Land Institute report the supervisors were urging us to follow.� This is another issue we hope to revisit
with the new Board of Supervisors.� If
they will not give us the money to build a more green facility for the new
Monroe, that opportunity will be lost forever.
D. Sustainable Schools Initiative
We recognize that the changes we
have proposed will require time to plan and execute. We
intend to support school board members
who provide the guidance and vision to promote the
necessary policies and initiatives
with wisdom and determination.
LCPS currently maintains an Energy
Education Program whose mission has been "to reduce the
use of energy throughout the school
system". LCPS could expand the mission and personnel of
this office to develop resources
that will embed sustainable development principles in school
buildings, the curriculum and the
community.
A school-wide Sustainable Schools
initiative would encompass evaluation of current practices
and recommendations with respect to
global warming emissions, waste streams, and natural
resource depletion in the facilities
construction, maintenance and operation systems. It would
emphasize problem solving and
respect for the interdependent web of life, and foster commitment
to sustainable development within
the curriculum. School staff could make use of the resources
that already exist for these types
of evaluations and programs.
5) Would you support the creation of
a school system-wide Sustainable Schools initiative? YES
NO
Yes, but much of what you seek we are already
doing.� We just need to continue our
efforts and find ways to do even more.�
The LCPS Energy Education Program has already saved an estimated $22
million in the past fifteen years, money which we have then been able to direct
toward instruction.� Since I have been
on the board, we have, as you suggest, expanded the number of personnel devoted
to this effort, and I know our energy experts do work with the construction and
building operations folks to achieve further savings for buildings under
construction and currently in operation.�
Much like your suggestion for the role of an interdepartmental task
force, this is already being done within the Department of Support
Services.� Also, as you requested, our
energy experts are already working with individual schools to inform school
staff and students of what they can all do to reduce energy consumption.� That is why we call it our Energy Education Program � we seek to educate
our students on the importance of energy conservation.��
The mission of our energy program is, in fact,
broader than simply �to reduce the use of energy� as described in the preamble
to this question.� Our mission also
includes ensuring efficient and effective stewardship
of public resources, and notes that the Energy Education Department already
works to: Develop energy savings habits within all levels of facility users;
Implement energy saving programs and practices; Evaluate and utilize the most
effective energy providers and rates; Review and authenticate energy usage and
billing; Facilitate timely processing of all utility bills; Research and
recommend energy efficient methods and materials; Generate an attitude and
culture of energy savings; Represent LCPS interests in committees and
organizations; Provide data and counsel regarding energy usage and cost;
Observe and report areas for energy use reduction; Coordinate energy savings
efforts with all departments within LCPS; Incorporate energy accounting
software to maintain clear and accurate records; and develop and maintain
professional and industry contacts; Seek program improvement through staff
development.� I am sure the energy professionals
in this department would welcome additional input as to how they can further
promote energy savings and sustainable schools, and would be pleased to pass
along any suggestions.
Finally,
throughout many of the schools I visit I consistently see signs, posters and
other materials reminding staff and students about saving energy.� As a parent I know that these matters are
discussed in the classroom as well.� We
also provide a checklist for students and staff on �Things Anyone Can Do To
Save Energy.�� Finally, there are
recycling programs and other energy conservation goals established for our
schools and employees, and we are constantly looking for further improvements
in this area.
6) Initiatives that support
sustainability have positive effects beyond their environmental focus:
cost savings, improved school
performance, student and staff health, etc. However, there may
also be obstacles to pursuing
sustainable strategies in our school system. What impediments do
you foresee and how would you deal
with them?
Sustainable Schools Initiative
Comments:
The biggest single
obstacle I see is the previously mentioned, ill-advised decision by the Board
of Supervisors last spring to demand that we reduce our up-front future
construction costs by ten percent.� I do
not want to sacrifice the quality of our buildings, including the additional
resources we devote to make them energy-efficient, to meet some arbitrary
number.� If anything, I want us to have
the flexibility to make our buildings even more energy efficient to achieve
long-term savings, and I am hopeful that the next Board of Supervisors will see
the wisdom of this approach and support us accordingly.� Regardless of who gets elected to the Board
of Supervisors, it is my intent to work with every one of them to help them
understand the importance of supporting our efforts to create more sustainable
schools.� It�s good for our students and
it�s good for our environment.
Additional Comments:
I want to thank you for this opportunity to respond
to your concerns and congratulate you on forming a subcommittee this summer to
work with the School Board and LCPS staff on these topics.�
I share your goals and am committed to using my
experience and my knowledge of the inner workings of LCPS and the public policy
process to best achieve them.� As you
can see from my answers, while I believe we have already been doing a great
deal in these areas, I welcome input on how we can further improve, and I know
we need to do more.�
In my five years on the School Board, including my
two years as Chairman, I have explored all of these issues in great depth with
my colleagues and with staff, and I look forward to working to achieve further
progress in making our schools and our school environment sustainable.� I led the fight this past spring for our
proposed new, LEEDS certified, Monroe Advanced Technology Academy, and I
defended it when the cost was criticized by supervisors.� My view is that we must not be short-sighted
but should instead work to achieve long-term savings and preserve our
environment.� If we have additional
discussions with the Board of Supervisors along these lines, and I hope we do,
I invite your organization to join me in supporting this.
Finally, as a parent of children who have attended
Loudoun County Public Schools for the past 18 years, with nine more years to go
for my youngest child, I appreciate your efforts to raise the awareness of
these important issues.� I want my
child, and those children who will be future students, to go to school in the
best possible environment and to have access to healthy, nutritious foods.� I look forward to working with you in the
years ahead toward these mutual goals.
ps.� I have been
discussing and meeting with our Director of Transportation and a leader in the
environmental community plans to phase in bio-diesel fuel use in our buses,
starting with this year's proposed budget.