SchoolMatters Blog

This blog was maintained by Brian Wheeler while serving as At-Large Member of the Albemarle County School Board (2004-2010).

  • Home
  • About
  • Board Agendas
  • School Budget
  • Calendar
  • cvillepedia
  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Subscribe
My Photo

Links

  • Follow me on Twitter
  • My school email lists
  • Our School Budget
  • School Division

Categories

  • Achievement Gap (2)
  • Articles of Interest (1)
  • Athletics (15)
  • Blogging (11)
  • Books (1)
  • Budget (35)
  • Calendar (2)
  • Campaign 2007 (4)
  • City-County Cooperation (6)
  • College-level courses (2)
  • Community Engagement (10)
  • Conferences & Workshops (3)
  • Current Affairs (3)
  • Environment (2)
  • Extracurriculars (2)
  • Federal Funding (1)
  • Food Service - Nutrition (1)
  • General Assembly (2)
  • Gifted Education (1)
  • Goals & Priorities (2)
  • Graduation (1)
  • Graduation Stats (1)
  • Health and Wellness (7)
  • High Schools (7)
  • In our Classrooms (13)
  • In our community (3)
  • Long Range Planning (38)
  • Middle Schools (1)
  • NSBA (6)
  • Open Government (6)
  • Performance Measurements (1)
  • Podcasting (4)
  • Politics (1)
  • Public opinion - Surveys (1)
  • Reading List (2)
  • Redistricting (22)
  • Religion in Our Schools (4)
  • School Board Elections (10)
  • School construction (5)
  • Specialty Centers (2)
  • Sports (1)
  • State Funding (1)
  • Strategic Planning (2)
  • Student Conduct (15)
  • Student Council (3)
  • Students on School Board (5)
  • Superintendent Search (3)
  • Technical Education (1)
  • Topic Suggestions (1)
  • Transportation (2)
  • VSBA (2)
  • Web/Tech (1)
  • Weblogs (10)
  • World Languages (1)
See More
Blog powered by Typepad
Member since 07/2005

Albemarle school board weighs in on disinfection debate

The Hook's Laura Hoffman recently did a follow-up story on the School Board's consideration of safer chemical management procedures.  I think she covered it well.  Since there was no direction from the School Board to change course, staff will continue to routinely disinfect restrooms and nurses stations (aka Option A) following the recommendations of the Safer Chemical Committee and the School Board's Health Advisory Committee. 

We will also continue with the implementation of the Integrated Pest Management program (which has significantly reduced the use of pesticides).  We will also continue to switch to "greener" cleaning products and grounds keeping approaches as recommended by staff.  Staff will present updated information on the financial impacts of the new approach at our August 14, 2008 meeting. 

Brian Wheeler


7/21/2008 * The Hook [full story]

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

That was the mantra of the Albemarle County school board July 10, as members voiced their support for continuing routine disinfection in schools with traditional synthetic chemicals. By backing disinfection, the school board countered a vote of the Board of Supervisors, who last month unanimously decided to switch to sanitizing– cleaning with greener products or simply soap and water– in all county buildings.

While following recommendations from both its health advisory panel and a joint school and local government committee, the school board’s position did not sit well with the Sierra Club, including Toxics Committee member Jackie Lombardo.

“We’re disappointed,” says Lombardo, whose group has pushed for a switch to non-toxic green cleaners. They’ve cited various studies that show that even very low exposure to pesticides– disinfectants are classified as pesticides– over time has been linked to learning disabilities, cancer, and asthma in children.

Posted on July 27, 2008 in Environment | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Safer Chemical Management in our schools

ACPS-EMS At our meeting this Thursday, July 10, 2008, the Albemarle County School Board will receive for information a report on how schools can adopt safer chemical management procedures.  The chemicals in question are those used for cleaning, pest control, and weed control.  The public can provide input during the meeting in our regular public comment opportunity which is scheduled to start at 6:50 PM.  Citizens can also e-mail the School Board at SchoolBoard @ k12albemarle.org. 

The staff report is available here:
http://www.wheeleronboard.com/docs/20080710SaferChemicalMgmt.pdf

Also, here is a separate update to the School Board on our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program which has almost eliminated the use of pesticides in our schools. http://www.wheeleronboard.com/docs/20080515-IPM-Safer.pdf

The IPM update notes the following: "It is also important to note that after transitioning from scheduled monthly crack and crevice treatments at each school approximately 8 months ago, ACPS has only had five pesticide treatments since the monthly treatments have ceased....Including all schools, the change from scheduled monthly treatments to IPM has resulted in approximately 200 less pesticide treatments over the course of 8 months."  [i.e. with IPM, in 8 months we went from 205 routine pesticide applications to 5 spot treatments after other measures failed]

You may also be interested in the School Division's Environmental Management website:
http://schoolcenter.k12albemarle.org/education/dept/dept.php?sectionid=4146

My assessment is that School staff over the past year have successfully taken on the challenge of making our approach to chemicals both "greener" and safer for our students and employees.  Citizens have played a direct role in creating the proposed safer chemical procedures as the School Board's Health Advisory Committee has been directly involved and provided oversight in this effort.

The School Board will have the opportunity to hear from the public on this matter and ask questions of staff about the details of the procedure and the budgetary impacts.  Given that any "green" approach to chemical management will likely require new funding, the School Board may ask that this initiative come back to the Board at a future meeting for funding approval and/or that it be included as an initiative in the FY 2010 budget.

Here is the key summary in the staff report of the recommended procedures:

"In summary, the Procedure stipulates: 1) custodial products be certified by Green Seal™, Green Guard™ or Environmental Choice™ (See Attachment B), or meet outlined criteria; 2) high-touch surface areas (e.g. bathrooms, kitchens) be routinely sanitized or disinfected as deemed appropriate by the manager overseeing custodial operations, and that disinfection occur as soon as practicable in response to a blood-borne pathogen event or viral outbreak, or as directed by the Department of Health; 3) chemical usage be eliminated when practicable and feasible in grounds management; if chemicals must be used, then organic or biological-based alternatives be used, with 5 outlined exceptions; and 4) the County implement a formal integrated pest management (IPM) program by August 2008 for the management of indoor pests (See Attachment C). Additionally, sections 3(F) and 3(G) of the Procedure provide a waiver process for situations requiring the use of a product that does not meet the specifications and criteria of the Procedure, or for emergency situations. Lastly, the Procedure requires an annual audit to be conducted by the Environmental Compliance Managers, with a report of the annual audit being provided to the School Board for their review and information."

Brian Wheeler

Posted on July 08, 2008 in Environment | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Search


  • Search SchoolMatters

Recent Posts

  • My resignation from the school board
  • 'City, county, get together': Daily Progress calls for talks about consolidation of schools
  • School Board approves $145.2 million funding request; Needs another $8.8 million in revenues to avoid Tier 2 & 3 cuts
  • Albemarle County Public Schools budget is now facing catastrophic cuts
  • Notes from 2-11-10 school board meeting - budget & 4x4 block schedules
  • Daily Progress Editorial: Revenue fight hurts region
  • City, county in clash over cash
  • Bell moves to shake up funding of area schools
  • Bell's budget amendment and city-county relations
  • Our presentation on Teleforums at the 2009 VSBA conference

Recent Comments

  • Amy Gore on My resignation from the school board
  • Larryb on My resignation from the school board
  • Jim Bain on My resignation from the school board
  • crabdragonman on My resignation from the school board
  • Jim Stern on Albemarle County Public Schools budget is now facing catastrophic cuts
  • Tandy Scott on Albemarle County Public Schools budget is now facing catastrophic cuts
  • bawheeler on Albemarle County Public Schools budget is now facing catastrophic cuts
  • Tandy Scott on Albemarle County Public Schools budget is now facing catastrophic cuts
  • Tandy Scott on Notes from 2-11-10 school board meeting - budget & 4x4 block schedules
  • Tandy Scott on Notes from 2-11-10 school board meeting - budget & 4x4 block schedules

Archives

  • August 2010
  • February 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009

More...