For MASSPTA

Join with the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow in asking for Governor Patrick's strong leadership to promote safer alternatives to toxic chemicals.  Please take a few moments to express your support for Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals.   Here's how:

1. Click on visit the safe alternatives section on the Governor's web site .
2. Click on "Support this Issue" in the upper left corner.
3. Click on "Continue on to Login or Create an Account."
4. Either login (if you are already registered) or click on "Create" to create a new account.
5. Click again on "Create" and then enter your information.
6. Your password will be emailed to you. Then you can login and cast your vote!

Also forward this email to five friends, neighbors or family members and asking them to do it, too. By speaking together we can make it clear to Governor Patrick that protecting kids from unsafe products is a high priority.

Giving our kids unstructured outdoor play time makes them happier, healthier... even smarter. Learn more About Green Hour

From Teacher's Magazine: 

NPR's recent series on autism included a visit to the May Institute outside of Boston where specialized teachers work with children living with the disorder. A year's tuition at May now runs $75,000 and parents have pushed hard for their school districts to foot the bill. Massachusetts is feeling the pinch. As the number of diagnosed cases rise--more than half a million children have been diagnosed nationally--superintendents are taking notice and preparing their teachers to work with autistic children in their classrooms. "It's an unbelievable explosion of kids," said Newton, Mass. superintendent Jeff Young. "It's growing both in terms of number and severity."

Massachusetts recently sent a group of teachers to an autism seminar at the May Institute where they watched demonstration videos of teachers in the classroom and listened to technique instruction from autism specialists. Other school districts around the country are turning to places like May to help them prepare for children who have been diagnosed--at a rate of one out of 150--with some form of autism.

balm - http://balmorg.wordpress.com
The Impoverishment of American Culture
And the need for better art education
by Dana Gioia,  the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. This article is a condensed version of his June 17 commencement address at Stanford University.

 

Click on "Gallery" above to see photos from the National Conference of State Legislatures Boston, 2007.

Schools vie for new building funds (By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff)

Officials said 161 school systems met Tuesday's deadline to solicit state aid to fix schools or build new ones next school year -- with the final request arriving by e-mail at 11 p.m. The Massachusetts School Building Authority will dispatch teams of engineers and architects to verify schools' assertions in coming months. By December, the state will pick schools that will receive funding next school year. Unsafe and crowded schools, especially in growing school systems, are top priority.

What you can do.  While waiting for local and state officials to address serious health and safety problems in schools, parents can help school officials keep track of problem areas in their children's learning environment and make health and safety a top priority.  A School Environmental Health Report Card (By Ellie Goldberg,  VP Legislation, MassPTA, www.healthy-kids.info)

Also see:
High Performance Kids Need Good Air Quality at School, v. 9/06,   published as "Clearing the Air in Schools,"  in Our Children, October, 2006, a publication of National PTA

   A TRAGIC HEALTH HAZARD 
     Pesticides in schools are a pervasive, unnecessary health hazard, according to Marc Lame, 
      an entomologist and professor in Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental 
      Affairs. "Over 80 percent of schools in America are applying pesticides on a regular 
      basis, whether they have a pest problem or not," he said. "This is tragic not 
      only because of the well-documented link between pesticides and health problems in 
      children, such as asthma and neurological disorders, but also because pesticides generally 
      do not work in a preventive manner in the school environment. Applying pesticides does not 
      prevent pests from coming in, so using them when pests are not present does nothing other 
      than expose children and staff to toxic chemicals." The most widely used insecticides 
      are nerve poisons, which cause nerves to fire in an uncontrolled manner and disrupt 
      endocrine (hormone) systems, Lame said. Prolonged exposure to these chemicals can result 
      in similar effects on the human nervous system, with symptoms ranging from vomiting to 
      severe breathing problems. Although research is limited, these endocrine disrupting 
      pesticides are suspected in problems ranging from ADHD to autism to infertility, Lame 
      said. Exposure during childhood carries the greatest risk. Lame said pest problems are 
      better managed with an integrated approach that involves recognition and remediation of 
      conditions that attract pests or allow pests to enter facilities. "It's common sense 
      proaction rather than toxic reaction," he said. 
       http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070721221346.htm