LCCSS
Questionnaire
Patricia
Godfrey
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
YES, I
think we are already doing this -- see below:
Environmental
Hazards Comments:
Since 1998, LCPS has practiced
integrated pest management. This program uses monitoring and non-chemical
methods to control pests. If as a last resort, we must use a chemical to
eliminate a pest problem, we only use the least toxic pesticide. In the past nine
years we have only had to use pesticides five times in our schools and all
treatments were performed on weekends when the schools were unoccupied.
As part of the school turf
management program, we only use herbicides on the common area grass. In these areas,
we use Dicamba and 2-4-D for weed control. All common area treatments are done
on weekends. We use no herbicides on any grass areas where students would be
present, such as PE playing fields. We only fertilize playing fields.
We have removed any potentially
toxic cleaning products from our inventory. The most recently awarded cleaning
chemical contract included ONLY green seal labeled cleaning chemicals. We have
used manufacturer provided chemical dilution systems for the past eight years
to ensure that cleaning chemicals are properly diluted prior to use.
We prevent the formation of mold in
our schools by ensuring the proper operation of our HVAC systems and constantly
reminding custodians and staff not to block exterior doors open which allows
excessive humidity in our schools. We also reduce the amount of water
infiltration into our schools through roof maintenance and routine caulking of
exterior joins to prevent roof leaks. We have had isolated instances of mold in
several schools during the past few years, mostly due to staff leaving doors
open. All testing of suspected mold is handled by the LCPS Environmental
Specialist, Chris Younger.
The Facilities Services Department
only uses the most environmentally friendly material, avoiding all products
that may require off gassing after installation. The C & A carper used in
our carpet replacement program and in all new schools is delivered from the
factory with a ready stick backing and emits no harmful VOCs.
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):
_6
���Restrict sale of candy, soda, sweets at/through the school
�4 ���Adopt a �Healthy snacks� and �Healthy Parties� policy
_1
���Upgrade the
nutritional quality of food offered in school lunches
_7__
Initiate partnerships between local farms and school food-service
_8__
Incorporate in-school kitchen gardens and local food economy education
_2__
Provide meal preparation and food selection workshops
_3__
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
YES
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
YES
Healthy
Snacks Comments:
Since
elected to the School Board in 2004,� I
have been a strong proponent for improving the health of our students and
staff.� I served as the first Chairman of
the Health, Safety and Wellness Committee in 2005.� I brought back from the VSBA convention the Virginia Governor�s
Scorecard for Healthy Kids.� Since then
we have used the scorecard to assess progress on our health initiatives at each
of our 68 facilities and several of our schools have received Governor�s awards
for their success.� Over four
years,� I have worked with the director
of school lunches to provide parents/students with measurements of nutrients in
our food offerings;� increased the
amount of fresh vegetables and fruits offered;�
and increased the number of schools providing breakfast to their
students.� Our transfats are down to
less than 6% when the federal government requires 10%.� Similarly,�
our physical education and health instruction at every level has been
revamped to emphasize the latest research in nutrition and exercise.� PE programs have expanded beyond the
traitional sports with an increased emphasis on individual activity.
�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
YES
Green Schools Comments:
As Chairman of the Finance, Construction and Site Acquisition Committee, I have started the process of assessing how much of our new school construction is taking advantage of energy savings and other �green school� initiatives.� I held a meeting in May that was attended by members of LCCSS.� We will be meeting again after the Rehau Company has completed an analysis of our current schools in terms of LEED certification and what we are already doing that complies with sustainability protocol.� We are anxious to build LEED certified;� however, we have yet to convince the Supervisors who approve all funding for school projects that these are cost savings not impractical expenditures.
We work with an architecture firm that has two personnel qualified to do LEED projects.� Our proposed Monroe facility would have had the highest LEED certification but supervisors did not agree to put this project on the bond this fall.
In considering sites for new schools, we do consider transportation aspects and building location on the site.� We do try to co-locate schools and parks wherever possible.� We mitigate the hard surface areas with drainage ponds on site; we do use vegetation and green space for the filtering of sediment and rain.� We are designing two-story elementary and middle schools in an effort to conserve and make the footprint of the school smaller.
We do use heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems that save energy and have a long life cycle.� We repair whenever and wherever we can so as not to create more trash or unnecessarily acquire new machinery.
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 I think we already have that as stated below.
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?
As far as new construction
goes,� I see resistance to adding any
more costs to new schools.� The supervisors
have already required that we cut 10% off the top of new school construction
costs and this is without the added expense of LEED certification.�
As far as farm contracts go, the
prime growing season in the summer does not coincide with when we need the food.
�I have studied the farm programs
developed in Vermont but Vermont is not providing food to 53,000 students� plus 3,000 faculty.� Also, Vermont�s farm program is dependent on
their doing their own food processing (canning, freezing) for the long winter
months.� The quantity of food we would
need to have processed makes this impractical.�
We are also dependent on the Federal free food program which helps us
keep the price of lunches reasonable.�
We are developing and striving for the most nutritious way to use the
Federal free food.
Sustainable Schools Initiative
Comments:
I think we already have discussions
with students at every level regarding sustainability and taking care of our
planet.� Our Energy Education Program
takes place not only in the classroom but also in the teacher�s lounge and the
custodian closet.� Every employee has
personal goals for energy conservation and recycling.� We have recycled over 270 tons of paper because our employees are
equally invested in keeping trash out of our landfills.� Our recycling program continues to expand
its scope and they continue to keep abreast of new items that can be
recycled.� We also collect outdated
equipment and supplies and auction them off to the public on a regular basis�another
form of recycling.
Additional Comments:
Our transportation department uses vehicles powered by alternatives to fuel and is looking at biodiesel fuel as an alternative to diesel.� In western Loudoun, the transportation department transports middle school and high school together as a way to more fully utilize our buses and save fuel.
When we are not on public utilities, we use �state of the art� waste and water treatment systems that lead to cleaner wastewater than before the school was built.� We use auto flush toilets and auto-sinks which save water as well.�
Every department of the School systems seems to be looking toward reducing energy use, recycling wherever possible and reducing our impacts on the environment.
W