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
Environmental
Hazards Comments:
Having our children learning in a healthy
environment is important to me. I do support the creation of a task force that
would revise maintenance practices however I want to sit down with the current
facility director and have him speak to some of the groups or individuals
already combating this problem.� Once
that has taken place I would look at creating such a task force.
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):
2���� Restrict
sale of candy, soda, sweets at/through the school
1���� Adopt a �Healthy snacks� and �Healthy
Parties� policy
3���� 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
4���� Provide meal preparation and food selection
workshops
5���� Teach the significance of packaging and
processed foods to ecological����� and
personal health
6���� 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
Environmental
Hazards Comments:
C.� Green Schools��
�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
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
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? Changes are always hard to do when it comes to issues such as this one. That may be the road block we face. What I would like to do is to sit down with School Board System Staff and get their input and by in on any changes that we are proposing to make. Sustainable Schools Initiative Comments:Additional Comments: