Through Air Quality Measures, Texas District Changes Students’ Lives

By Alyson Zepeda

	Superintendent Richard Middleton spoke on indoor air quality.

Addressing indoor air quality in the North East Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, may have begun with mold but the effort has since become a life-changing program for many students with asthma and their parents.

Asthma is one of the leading causes of extended absences from school in the district, Superintendent Richard A. Middleton said during his presentation at the AASA conference Wednesday about the effects of indoor air quality on attendance and productivity.

“If you don’t have healthy children, you can’t expect them to learn at higher rates,” Middleton said.

Three years ago, because of increasing emergency medical calls and absences due to respiratory problems, the district began implementing new cleaning procedures and asthma education programs.

The district’s director of asthma education, Diane Rhodes, who presented with Middleton, runs a community asthma education program called Asthma Blow Out. Parents and students are invited to attend workshops with medical professionals to learn about asthma causes and treatment. At the first blowout, Rhodes said she was approached by a tearful woman who asked, “Why didn’t someone tell me that my child could be symptom free?”

Education, reduction of air particulates and allergens and the addition of nebulizers for treating asthma at every school already have decreased emergency incidents and

	Diane Rhodes, director of asthma education

absences in the schools. In one case, incidents requiring inhaler treatment dropped from 106 to 16 in two months.

However, Rhodes said bad air quality has wide-reaching consequences beyond affecting students with asthma. In a survey of 1,200 parents, Rhodes found that 53 percent of parents with non-asthmatic children said their child still had allergies that were exacerbated by pollen, dust and other particulates.

The district plan to mitigate the problem is detail oriented. Measures include upgrading inefficient air circulation systems, pulling up carpets that can trap allergens and even requiring teachers to remove dust-collecting clutter from classrooms.

“It causes a reaction when we tell teachers to clean up their room,” Middleton said. He said he wants to get into people’s space and get personal in order to create a healthy environment where even highly sensitive, asthmatic students can be comfortable.