Indoor Environmental Quality Committee Presents Recommendations

February 25th, 2016

The Howard County Public School system (HCPSS) is revising its approach to ensuring environmental quality in its school buildings and facilities, following the recommendations of the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Advisory Committee, which were presented during the February 25, 2016 meeting of the Board of Education.

“I am pleased that the committee has developed a concrete plan of action, based on thorough research and the finest available environmental expertise as well as input from our staff, students, and parents,” said Superintendent Renee A. Foose. “Thanks to their excellent work, HCPSS is poised to move forward in assuring our stakeholders that every Howard County public school provides a healthy and positive learning environment.”

The committee’s recommendations consist of a two-fold plan of action and communication, which the school system has already begun to implement in preparation for full roll out by July 1. The committee also recommended the appointment of a new IEQ Coordinator at the system level and a designated IEQ Team Leader at each school.

The action plan includes systemwide scheduled and standardized walk-through reviews of designated areas of each HCPSS facility, to be conducted at least twice each year by a team including staff, parents, students, and community members.

Communication protocols were defined to inform the Howard County community on all environmental quality concerns, updates, and resolutions. Plans include a designated IEQ section on the HCPSS website to promptly inform the community of any IEQ concerns and issues, with an easily-accessible form provided for use in reporting concerns and questions. All documented concerns will be resolved within a specified time, and documentation about all concerns, investigations, and resolutions will be accessible on the website of each applicable school.

The committee was chartered by the Board of Education in September 2015 to review current HCPSS services and practices and benchmark them to EPA guidelines, legal requirements, and other school systems’ practices; consider feedback shared by many HCPSS students, employees, parents, and community members; and, based on this analysis, to recommend a system-wide IEQ plan to the Superintendent. The 33 IEQ committee members included teachers, school administrators and other school staff; staff members from HCPSS facilities and other central offices; representatives from a local environmental consulting firm and the Howard County Health Department; and parents, students, and community members.

The full committee report and presentation are available online.