Tobie Bernstein, JD, Environmental Law Institute, 1616 P St., NW, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 939-3800, bernstein@eli.org

Approximately one in six people in the U.S. spends their day inside school buildings, and the quality of the environment inside these facilities can have a tremendous impact on the health, well-being and productivity of children and school staff alike. Yet federal studies demonstrate that a significant percentage of K-12 schools have at least one unsatisfactory environmental factor, such as lighting, heating, ventilation, acoustics, or indoor air quality. The large investment of capital funds in school construction and modernization over the next few years presents a tremendous opportunity to change traditional building practices and create healthier school environments. Over the past several years, state and local leaders around the country have begun to respond to this challenge by building "high performance" schools. High performance school design and construction integrates a wide range of health, environmental, economic, and educational goals into the school building process from a project's earliest planning stages to the post-occupancy evaluation and operation of the facility. The purpose of this presentation is to help public health officials, practitioners and advocates learn from the experiences of states and school districts that have developed high performance school building initiatives. The presentation will provide information about the policies, programs, and practices that have been adopted by states and school districts around the U.S. to incorporate a high performance approach in school planning, design, and construction. This information will be based on a recently published Environmental Law Institute report and the Institute's ongoing research on this subject.

Learning Objectives:

This poster session will enable attendees to (
• identify governmental policy and program strategies that are being used to promote healthy school design and construction; and (
• apply existing models for promoting healthy, high performance schools to the development of public policy initiatives in their own state or local jurisdiction

Keywords: Indoor Environment, Public Health Policy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.