Overview
A Healthy School Environment is influenced by the physical and aesthetic surroundings. The social climate and the culture of the school, physical conditions, such as lighting and noise, and physiological conditions, such as social and emotional factors, all affect student and staff well-being.
Resources
Action Steps for Implementing a Healthy School Environment
A safe, clean, and well-maintained school with a positive psychosocial climate and culture can foster school connectedness, which in turn boosts student and staff health as well as students’ educational achievement. Learn about what actions you can take as a school staff professional or parent.
Active School Neighborhood Checklist
Where schools are located can influence the health and wellbeing of students that attend it. Use the active school neighborhood checklist to assess the physical surroundings at your school and identify barriers to safe walking and biking to and from school.
Heat Effects
The number of people affected by Arizona's extreme heat is on the rise over the past couple of decades. Schools can take measures to prevent students from suffering from heat exhaustion using the tools provided by the Arizona Department of Health Services Heat Effects Program.
Adopt a policy to prevent heat exhaustion by following these recommendations found here.
Sunwise Program for Schools
In August 2005, Arizona became the first state to mandate sun safety education by requiring that all k-8 public and charter schools teach the SunWise Skin Cancer Prevention School Program. The SunWise Program is a free sun safety curriculum that teaches children how to protect themselves from overexposure to the sun and prevent skin cancer. The SunWise Program is offered free of charge to all Arizona k-8 schools through the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS).
Arizona Dept of Environmental Quality Tools for Schools
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is sponsoring a new recognition program to help individual schools become Arizona Environmentally Healthy (AEH) schools. This program recognizes policies and actions taken by schools to help ensure a healthy and safe learning and teaching environment. School principals, or their designees, can use ADEQ’s checklist to certify to ADEQ that the school has taken action to safeguard their students, faculty, and other personnel against environmental pollutants and other potential environmental risks.
EPA’s HealthySEAT
The Environmental Protection Agency has developed a unique software tool to help school districts and sites evaluate and manage their school facilities for key environmental, safety and health issues. The guidance included in HealthySEAT can improve the health of students and staff by ensuring that all potential environmental and safety hazards in schools are being properly managed. Examples of school environmental hazards include chemical releases, pesticide exposures, flaking lead paint, mold and other indoor air quality problems, and damaged asbestos-containing building materials.
Kids for Saving Earth
The mission of Kids for Saving Earth is to educate, inspire, and empower children to protect the Earth's environment. Kids for Saving Earth provides educational materials, posters, and a highly acclaimed web site featuring environmental education curriculum and activities.