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HCPSS Indoor Environmental Quality Websites Now Live

August 17th, 2016

When Howard County public schools reopen on Monday, Aug. 29, the system, staff and community members will begin working together to maintain healthy school buildings for everyone who uses them. Everyone can help maintain healthy indoor conditions to work, learn, perform, compete and play.

The Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) is implementing new Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) protocols, in accordance with recommendations from the school system’s IEQ Committee. Information and resources are available on the new HCPSS Indoor Environmental Quality web page and on each school website. Users can report and track concerns and find documentation on existing environmental assessments.

“These websites enhance communication between staff and the community about environmental quality in HCPSS school buildings and facilities, and simplify the process of reporting potential concerns,” said HCPSS Superintendent Renee A. Foose. “They give stakeholders a single access point to all of the information on how each school building provides a healthy learning environment.”

The new webpages are among the communication protocols defined by the Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Advisory Committee to inform the school system community about environmental quality at each school and provide a process for reporting and tracking progress in resolving concerns.

Each school IEQ web page is accessible through a link on the “About” tab on the school’s homepage. The site provides school staff members, parents, community members and students with an easily accessible online form to use when reporting concerns and questions. Each concern submitted through the school IEQ sites will be promptly addressed, In line with IEQ Committee recommendations.

The sites also provide documentation on any environmental concern, investigation and resolution on record for the school, as well as access to school walkthrough and classroom area checklist reports, which are regularly compiled for each school in accordance with IEQ committee recommendations. Professional IEQ reports and IEQ concern forms that are in-process and completed also will be viewable on each school’s IEQ site.

School staff are being trained in use of the new sites and how to report and track concerns.

The new sites are the latest in a series of enhancements to be implemented following the IEQ Committee recommendations. Other recommendations are in place, including school-based IEQ teams that work to identify potential issues or concerns, provide an avenue of communication to report potential indoor environmental problems, and increase education and awareness of the importance of maintaining proper indoor environments.