For MASSPTA

Coalition backs plan to improve public schools
A coalition of leading educators and community organizations has produced a "Community Agenda for America's Public Schools." The group, which includes Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, seeks to address complex social problems -- including poverty, violence, substance abuse, and family instability -- by focusing on schools. The agenda calls for more partnerships between public schools and local community groups, health-care providers, and other social services to help struggling students, especially in the nation's urban and rural areas.
Read more at http://www.thecommunityagenda. org

The White Hanky Test

We are working hard to make our communities healthier
From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Teresa Heinz, the chairman of The Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies (www.heinz.org).
...
 
On one of my trips home to Pittsburgh several years ago, I saw that there had been a great deal of news coverage given to a small event that took place in a suburban school parking lot.

The participants performed an unsophisticated scientific experiment known as the "white hanky" test. A senior scientist with a local environmental group and the owner of a school bus company held a white handkerchief against the tailpipe of a 6-year-old bus with its engine in idle. Within seconds, the diesel exhaust turned the handkerchief black.

The men then moved to the tailpipe of another bus that had been retrofitted to filter most of the pollutants -- which are linked to a range of serious health problems from asthma to cancer -- and the handkerchief remained white.

Students clapped, cameras clicked and Plum School District officials announced the receipt of a federal grant that would allow them to buy filters for the district's older buses.

For two young women who head local environmental nonprofits and who helped plan that event, the actions of Plum officials and similar efforts in three other school districts were commendable but fell far short of a comprehensive response to Western Pennsylvania's serious diesel-emission problem.

Inspired by last year's Women's Health & Environment Conference and the Rachel Carson Centennial Birthday celebration that followed, Kathy Lawson, Western Pennsylvania director of Clean Water Action, and Rachel Filippini, the executive director of the Group Against Smog and Pollution, partnered with the Pittsburgh Public Schools and bus company owners to create the Healthy School Bus Fund.

The project's first-stage goal is to eliminate diesel pollution from the district's 350-bus fleet. Eventually, the two women want to package the novel process and take it to the other school districts in Allegheny County.

Rachel and Kathy have been persistent and convincing, with the result that the first 20 retrofitted school buses in Pittsburgh are scheduled to make their rounds by the end of October. These two were among the 2,000 women who took to heart two key messages from last year's conference.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08268/914415-109.stm

For Immediate release

Contacts : Karl Tupper, 510-301-9960 or Kristin Schafer, 415-981-1771
Florida Schoolchildren Still Exposed to Harmful Pesticides

Air tests positive for chemicals, spurs call for health protections            

A study released today confirms that school children in Florida continue to breathe air contaminated by dangerous, toxic pesticides. Air monitoring near South Woods Elementary School in Hastings detected four agricultural chemicals in the air, often at levels that pose unacceptable risks to children.
 
Additional Information:

For a 4-page summary of the report or the full document, see http://www.panna.org/drift/ catcher/results/hastings07 catcher/results/hastings07>
 
To view the previous report, see http://www.panna.org/drift/ catcher/results/hastings catcher/results/hastings>  
 
For information on the health effects of endosulfan, see http://www.panna.org/ campaigns/endosulfan/health campaigns/endosulfan/health>  
 
For information on pesticide drift see http://www.panna.org/drift/ 
 
 
Available for Interviews:

Karl Tupper, Staff Scientist, Pesticide Action Network 510-301-9960 or 415-981-1771 karl@panna.org
 
Jordan Whitmire, Hastings community member, 904-471-0440

'Green clean' your school   Healthy Schools Campaign, a not-for-profit group, has released the second edition of the "Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools."

MassCOSH and the National Workgroup on Green Cleaning and Chemical Policy Reform in schools are pleased to announce the launch of a series of webinars (details below) on Cleaning for Healthy Schools.  You can also access toolkit materials at:   http://www. cleaningforhealthyschools.org

Group to promote state legislative efforts to build green schools

A trade group that promotes green building design is urging state legislatures to form caucuses to support environmentally sustainable schools.

The U.S. Green Building Council, the Washington, D.C.-based group that promulgates the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating tool, is spearheading the "50 for 50" effort to lower school energy and maintenance costs and bolster student learning and health.

America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008
http://www.childstats.gov/ americaschildren/index.asp

It includes a section on Physical Environment and Safety as well as
Health (including data on low birth rate and asthma)

Each year since 1997, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics has published a report on the well-being of children and
families. The Forum alternates publishing a detailed report, America's
Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, with a summary version
that highlights selected indicators. This year, the Forum is publishing
America's Children in Brief; it will publish the more detailed report in
2009. The Forum updates all indicators and background data on its
website ( http://childstats.gov) every year.

Jean Kilbourne, creator of MEF films Killing Us Softly 3 and Slim Hopes, and Diane Levin, who appears in MEF films Mickey Mouse Monopoly, Beyond Good & Evil and the forthcoming Consuming Kids, will be appearing on the Today Show on Wednesday, August 6 between 9 and 10 AM EST to discuss their brand new book, So Sexy, So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.

To learn more about Jean Kilbourne, visit www.jeankilbourne.com.
To learn more about Diane Levin, visit www.dianeelevin.com.

Federation Newsline Readers,

Click on http://fcsn.org/publications_ resources/newsline/newsline. php to read the latest edition of Newsline: Summer 2008.

Included in this issue:

*Belonging and Becoming...Opportunities for All â& #128;¢ Spring Gala 2008
*Parent Consultant Trainings
*Educational Proficiency Plans (EPP)
*Finding a Support Group
*Behavioral Health Services for Children
*Book Reviews and much more!

TORONTO STAR July 11, 2008
MEGAN OGILVIE   HEALTH REPORTER
Cases of the deadliest form of skin cancer are soaring among young women in the United States, a trend that some experts say parallels the surge in the multi-million-dollar tanning industry.