When the school day begins, the quality of air, light and surroundings can shape everything from student comfort to classroom performance. That idea is at the center of the inaugural Healthy Schools for Healthy Kids Summit, a national event designed to develop a health-first vision for America’s schools and create a roadmap for healthier learning environments.
The summit, scheduled for August 5 at the KFF Barbara Jordan Conference Center in Washington D.C., is being convened by Healthy Schools Network, the Children’s Environmental Health Network, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation, the International WELL Building Institute and the Center for Environmental Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs. The event will bring together leaders from public health, education, facilities management and philanthropy to develop the first Health-First Agenda for America’s Schools.
The summit’s agenda will focus on issues directly affecting school facility professionals, including school modernization, indoor air quality, healthy building materials, emergency preparedness, lighting, acoustics, technical assistance and so much more. Organizers plan to produce a set of actionable recommendations intended to guide future investments and policy decisions affecting K-12 facilities.
The initiative comes as school districts nationwide continue to grapple with aging infrastructure, poor indoor quality and climate-related challenges. The average U.S. school building is nearly 50 years old, while the nation’s school infrastructure faces an estimated $90 billion annual investment gap, according to organizers. Poor indoor air quality alone contributes to approximately 14 million missed school days each year because of asthma-related illnesses.
The event is supported by the National Education Association, the Environmental Working Group and IQAir.
Elaina Myers is the assistant editor of the facilities market. She has covered various topics from pest management to resilience to sustainability and is the beat writer for special days. She also runs the FacilitiesNet social media accounts.
