Hitting Pay Dirt –Gardening at School Benefits All

Book ’em: What We’re Reading

If you haven’t already read R.J. Palacio’s beautiful, moving and sometimes heartbreaking book, Wonder, run — don’t walk — to your library or favorite bookstore and pick it up. While it’s worth the read regardless, it has such potential as a vehicle for talking about and teaching all sorts of social-emotional learning concepts, like kindness, compassion, character development and bullying. It could also be used to discuss school climate in general. Wonder would be great as part of staff development, a PTA Book Club or using with students.

So curl up with a cup of tea and, OK, perhaps a box of tissues — or download it in audiobook form and listen to it on your commute or while running errands. We promise you won’t wonder why we suggested this powerful book. It will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Happy reading, Bethe 

P.S.: Looking for an easy free app to download eBooks and audio books? Check out Overdrive, which is available for both Apple and Adroid systems.

Green Schools are Healthy, Efficient and Inspiring Learning Spaces – Is Yours?

Earth Week is almost upon us (April 22-26), and the green schools movement continues to grow.  Here are the latest activities and some great tips that can help improve the health, resource-efficiency and sustainability learning opportunities in your school from Jenny Wiedower, K-12 Manager, Center for Green Schools, US Green Building Council.

This year, the Center for Green Schools   drew attention to the condition of our country’s public school facilities in our 2013 State of our Schools report, released in March. We estimate that it will take approximately $271 billion to bring our nation’s 100,000 PK-12 school buildings up to working order and comply with laws.

Together with dozens of organizations, the Center for Green Schools is calling for an updated survey on the condition of America’s schools.  This will provide more detailed and accurate information to direct our efforts to restore, repair and revive our schools, which will help direct our limited dollars to where they are needed most.

NEA and NEA HIN – two of our many partners – agree.  “Our job—as educators, as parents and as elected officials—is to remove barriers so that all students can succeed,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. “This means investing in the right priorities. Children need and deserve safe and healthy environments so they can learn. It’s not more complicated than that.”

Educator and student resources….You can help raise awareness about the impact that the conditions of school facilities have on student performance and health.

• Join a local Green School Committee,
• Work on the ground to improve community schools through our Green Apple Day of Service,
• Give the gift of our Green Classroom Professional Certificate to a teacher, principal, custodian or educational support staff you know, or
• Connect with your local legislator on these important issues.

We think “11 Ways to Green Your School” is a great place to pick up new ideas for how to engage students, staff, school stakeholders and community members in making fun, action-oriented improvements in your school.

For the college bound….The Center for Green Schools is pleased to announce the release of The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2013 Edition. In its fourth year of publication, the guide highlights exceptional institutions of higher learning for their leadership in sustainable operations, sustainability in curriculum and green living on campus. As the only comprehensive and free resource of its kind to the majority of prospective students who say that they are looking for a green college to attend, this is a wonderful resource to share with your high school guidance counselors and high school students alike. More information can be found on The Princeton Review’s website.

 And don’t miss….

• The Center for Green Schools on NBC’s TODAY Show on Monday, April 22! TODAY is scheduled to celebrate Earth Day by building six green living walls on Rockefeller Plaza with local students from Bronx public schools. The segment will highlight the Center for Green Schools and our flagship event, the Green Apple Day of Service. Tune in!

•  Also, on Monday, April 22, the U.S. Department of Education will announce their 2013 Green Ribbon Schools awardees. USED will be live-streaming the event at 10 am on this website.

• Get free 20-minute-or-less web trainings with all the information you’ll need to make your Green Apple Day of Service activity on September 28, 2013 a success.  The first web training will be “Save Water” on Thursday, April 25, tune in, these webcasts will introduce you to project ideas, volunteer recruitment tips, fundraising ideas and more.
• As always, check in with the Center for Green Schools regularly to learn how others are making a difference in their schools and communities and share your story with us!

Food Allergies

Last summer NEA HIN began tackling this important issue. Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, NEA HIN began developing a guide to help school employees prevent and respond to food allergy emergencies in the school environment. One of the main things we wanted the guide to do was to impart this important message: Managing food allergies in schools is a team effort involving all school staff, parents/guardians and health care providers. Everyone — including teachers, paraeducators, custodial and maintenance staff, security officers, bus drivers, food service workers, secretaries and clerical staff, counselors, librarians and media specialists, coaches, nurses, health aides, and administrators — plays an important role in ensuring that the needs of students with food allergies are met.

People often think managing food allergies in schools is the responsibility of the school nurse and food service workers because of their unique jobs in health and nutrition. But what about the custodian who is charged with cleaning hard surfaces such as cafeteria tables and classroom desks to remove food allergens? What about the bus driver who in his/her mobile environment could at any moment have to react to a food allergy reaction on the bus? What about the teacher and paraeducator who have to be careful that non-food items used in classroom activities (such as finger paints, paper mache’, and crayons) do not contain food allergens? These are just some examples of the important roles that school employees must play to help prevent food allergy reactions and anaphylaxis in schools.

If we could have one wish granted it would be that no child dies from anaphylaxis while at school. We believe that this can be achieved by adopting and implementing strong state regulations, district policy, and school-based food allergy management prevention plans that focus on 1) education and awareness of food allergies, 2) prevention and response to food allergy reactions, and 3) access to epinephrine in schools. In the ideal world, every school employee would be trained to recognize symptoms, know which students have been prescribed epinephrine and where medication is located, and to respond to food allergy emergencies, including the proper administration of epinephrine. But we know that every state is different as state laws clearly define the parameters around access, storage, and administration. Furthermore, privacy and confidentiality concerns come into play forcing schools to balance privacy and safety.

While there is an enormous amount of work to be done, we hope that the launch of our guide can begin to make headway with the front line fighters – the school employees. We are excited to make the booklet available for free to all members of the school community this fall. The booklet will be offered in English and Spanish, and will be available in print and online. Stay tuned this September and go to our food allergy page to learn how you can download the booklet or to order a hard copy.