Ensuring NYC Schools are Safe, Healthy Learning Environments

• Educated and empowered parents, teachers, community boards, city officials, and other school community members to ensure school buildings are safe, healthy learning environment;
• Developed and disseminated a comprehensive healthy school-siting manual and other educational materials for community boards, parents, and other key stakeholders. This toolkit includes information on understanding the environmental assessment process, community oversight of new school construction, and funding available for an independent environmental assessment;
• Distributed the manual and materials to New York City council members, and copies were handed out at meetings with community education councils and other parent groups;
• Provided ongoing trainings and technical assistance directly to parents and educators; and
• Prepared an analysis of the shortcomings in New York City’s environmental review process in response to a request by Manhattan’s Community Board 3. This report was cited by Community Board 3 in its advocacy with the City to include a new school on the Lower East Side as part of a major new housing development.

New York City council members subsequently reached out to NYLPI for recommendations on best practices for healthy school siting, construction, and renovation. NYLPI provided council members with the educational materials it had developed under its NYHealth-funded project, including the manuals designed to enable community involvement. In early 2015, the Council passed new legislation, signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio, that requires the Department of Education (DOE) to inform parents and school employees within seven days of any environmental test results that show potential health threats in public schools or proposed sites. It also requires the DOE to publish all environmental inspections to its website, and to publish biannual reports for the City Council and the public summarizing the test results of every environmental inspection and site assessment, as well as plans to mitigate risks. During the grant, NYLPI also discovered another serious health problem—the failure of the DOE to remove school trailers contaminated with mold and vermin. NYLPI is involved in advocacy to rid schools of the trailers.