The Breathing Better: Healthy Schools Forum, held on National Health Schools Day, promotes clean air in every school and the need to urgently address the problem of unsafe air, caused by poor heating and ventilations systems, impacting the most disadvantaged communities and their schools the hardest.
The forum will commemorate the 20th anniversary of Connecticut’s landmark 2003 School Indoor Air Quality legislation, highlighting the importance of clean indoor school environments to children’s health and ability to learn. Local, state, and national experts will discuss lessons learned over the past two decades, opportunities for continued advocacy moving forward, and post pandemic approaches to keeping schools safe.
A panel of legislators, led by Senators Julie Kushner and Saud Anwar, and Rep. Jennifer Leeper, will discuss the implementation of the recommendations of the Legislature’s School Indoor Air Quality Working Group.
The forum is sponsored by The Connecticut Foundation for Environmentally Safe Schools (CONNFESS), CEA, AFL-CIO, AFT Connecticut, CCAG, ConnectiCOSH, and the national Healthy Schools Network.
Tentative agenda
11am: Introduction and welcoming remarks 11:10am: 20 Years of Connecticut School IAQ Policy (CONNFESS President and Founder Joellen Lawson) 12:00pm: Lunch and networking 1:00pm: National Policy Perspectives (Environmental Law Institute Senior Attorney Tobie Bernstein) 1:30pm: Legislator’s Panel: School IAQ Working Group and Pathways Forward (Sen. Julie Kushner, Sen. Saud Anwar, M.D., and Rep. Jennifer Leeper. Moderated by CEA Legislative Coordinator Lou Rosado Burch) 2:00pm: Break 2:10pm: Best Practices for Ventilation Verification (Wing’s Testing and Balancing Co., Inc., Principal Matthew Cole, CHC, LEED AP BD&C) 2:40pm: Overview of EPA’s Tools for Schools program (Connecticut Coalition for Healthy Air in Schools and Department of Public Health retired member Kenny Foscue, MPH) 3:10pm: Break 3:20pm: Post-pandemic Approaches to Safe Cleaning (Healthy Schools Network Executive Director Claire Barnett, MBA) 3:50pm: Safe Approaches to Supplemental Air Filtration: Beware of Untested 3rd Party Air Cleaners (Marina Creed, UConn Health Center) 4:20pm: Closing remarks
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