AJPH -- eLetters for Cameron et al., 97 (4) 648-654

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HEALTH POLICY AND ETHICS:
Roy Cameron, Stephen Manske, K. Stephen Brown, Mari Alice Jolin, Donna Murnaghan, and Chris Lovato
Integrating Public Health Policy, Practice, Evaluation, Surveillance, and Research: The School Health Action Planning and Evaluation System
Am J Public Health 2007; 97: 648-654 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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School Physcial Environment: Charles Levenstein (22 July 2007)

School Physcial Environment 22 July 2007

Charles Levenstein,
Professor Emeritus of Work Environment
University of Massachusetts Lowell
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Re: School Physcial Environment

chuck_lev{at}comcast.net Charles Levenstein

I was intrigued and pleased by the integrative approach to school health issues presented by the authors of this article. Since my retirement from teaching in 2003, however, I have been serving on the Environmental Health and Safety Committee of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. I am concerned about the lack of attention in this project and in the paper to the sorts of problems we are facing in Massachusetts. For instance, there does not seem to be integration of assessments of the physical condition of the educational facilities in the approach. Indoor air quality is an important issue in Massachusetts. The long years of neglect of public infrastructure are taking a great toll on the respiratory health of teachers and children. We have recently discovered (through the research of Robert Herrick at Harvard School of Public Health) that there may be a serious problem of PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) contamination of public schools built between 1950 and 1976. Further, there has not been an evaluation at the national level of asbestos removal in the schools since the early 1990's. Perhaps such issues are not important in Canada, but if we are to apply the integrative approach presented in this paper, we had better ensure that the school physical environment and not just student behavior is accorded a serious place in the modeling.