The health and performance of students, teachers and staff who spend time in "green" schools in New York will be evaluated with a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The state Department of Health, partnering with NYSUT and several other organizations, is one of 13 recipients sharing some $2 million in council grants.

DOH researchers will use the grant - plus $143,000 in department funds - to conduct walk-throughs and surveys of New York schools, and to develop a Green School Index.

One-quarter of the USGBC grants are given to research the correlation between the health of students and staff in K-12 schools with building conditions.

The union's role

NYSUT, which has long worked with the Healthy Schools Network, will assist in identifying appropriate schools and survey school staff, with the help of its health and safety specialist, Wendy Hord. She will be part of inter-disciplinary teams visiting schools.

"We share the perspective that further scientific studies must be conducted to understand how green school building attributes affect the health and performance of students and those who work in schools," said NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue, whose office oversees health issues.

Representing New York public school teachers and 90,000 school support staff, NYSUT is in a strong position to help the study, she said.

To create a Green School Index, DOH will use existing data from the State Education Department, another project partner. Each school in the state is required to complete a building condition survey every five years.

Researchers will then create a combined indicator to weigh the contribution of each green attribute.

The points for each attribute will be tallied to give each school building a score.

For example, points for indoor air quality would be earned for such attributes as adequate fresh air and no diesel intrusion.

The index would be the total of the scores for each of the attributes.

The walk-throughs will determine a school building's overall condition to see how it corresponds with the SED building survey information.

School and district socio-demographics, as well as outdoor environmental factors such as proximity to traffic and airports, will be factored in.

To calculate the effect of building conditions, researchers will look at student attendance and standardized test scores to measure performance.

Data on student respiratory health problems or complaints will be obtained from hospital discharge and emergency room data.

To measure how teachers are faring, the research team will conduct a statewide survey.

Shao Lin, DOH project investigator, said schools will be examined for ideal green principles:

• ­Dryness
• Good indoor air quality
• Thermal comfort
• Quietness
• Proper lighting
• Cleanliness

"A lot of schools have poor ratings for humidity and moisture," Lin said. These lead to mold.

Researcher Christine Kielb said a 2003 DOH custodian survey "found mold and moisture problems in most of the schools."

The DOH team will have two years to complete its project. Its other partners are the New York State Asthma Initiative and the Bureau of Occupational Health.

RPI gets award

The council also awarded about $250,000 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy to study the impact of daylight and electric lighting on K-12 student alertness, performance and well-being.

RPI and the National Institutes of Health will contribute a like amount to evaluate light's effect on stress, mood, sleep quality and student performance.

The research will serve as a basis for guidelines to enable the development of better lighting design.

- Liza Frenette