NEW ORLEANS (July 12, 2022) - If you think Oliver Thomas (left) shouldn’t be on WBOK you probably don’t know Black New Orleans. Or maybe your thinking is based on politics.

We’ve had some prominent radio people who have meant a lot to Black New Orleans through several decades. Groovy Gus Lewis was on WYLD, spinning hits and giving people without much of a voice a microphone. Larry McKinley was on WNNR before it became WBOK, and he was the baritone voice at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. We followed Paul Beaulieu from the States-Item to WVUE to WBOK because he was one of us, he understood us and he explored issues — and held people accountable — in ways only one of us could.

For much of the last decade, Thomas has been our voice.

The Louisiana Ethics Board issued an opinion Friday saying Thomas should give up his part-time job at WBOK or do it for free. Why? Because Thomas is now City Council member Oliver Thomas representing District E and WBOK gets advertising from the city of New Orleans...

(Click for Full Story).

Join AARP New Orleans for “Turn-Up Thursday” classes with fitness trainer Frederick Griffith. The classes include stretching, flexibility, balance, low-impact aerobics, and strength training to the beat of old-school music.

Frederick is a New Orleans-based personal trainer with over 8 years of experience.

For this virtual class, you will need internet access. Please remember to have water and comfortable clothing that is conducive to movement. Please consult your physician before beginning any exercise program.

You can choose to attend one or more of the following webinars.

 Jul 14, 2022 10:30 AM

 Jul 21, 2022 10:30 AM

 Jul 28, 2022 10:30 AM

NEW ORLEANS (Tue, June 21, 2022) - Dr. Norman C. Francis, president emeritus of the Xavier University of Louisiana, was Loyola University New Orleans‘ first Black graduate. The university is renaming its largest residence hall to honor him.

Dr. Francis served as president of Xavier from 1968 to 2015, becoming one of the longest-serving and most successful university presidents in history. In addition, he was the first Black and lay president of the school and the second African American to ever serve as president of a Catholic university in the United States.

Rev. Justin Daffron, S.J., interim president of Loyola, said Francis embodies what the school strives for, and both Dr. Francis and his late wife have set examples of compassion and kindness.

“Norman Francis embodies everything we strive for here at Loyola,” Rev. Daffron said. “He and his late wife Blanche have set an example for us all, showing us how to live and love in the way the Gospels have taught us, with compassion, kindness, hope, courage and service to others.”

Rev Daffron also said that Dr. Francis worked tirelessly throughout his lifetime to widen access and opportunities so that everyone could grow to their fullest potential.

“Dr. Francis believes that education is the true path to diversity, equity and inclusion,” Rev Daffron said. “Throughout his lifetime, he has worked to widen access and opportunity so that all people may develop to their fullest potential.”

Loyola New Orleans is the most prominent Jesuit Catholic university in the South, known for its diversity and commitment to justice.

In recognition of the Francis family’s many contributions to Loyola, Xavier, the city, state, country and Catholic Church, Loyola will permanently rename Carrollton Hall, now known as Carrollton Hall, to the Blanche and Norman C. Francis Family Hall starting this fall.

Additionally, the resolution recognizes Dr. Francis for his military service and their faith and commitment to the family during their 60 years of marriage.

Dr. Francis served as president of the Xavier University of Louisiana, the nation’s only historically black and Catholic university, for almost five decades; a pioneering Civil Rights leader, he fought for desegregation throughout the Deep South.

He enrolled in Loyola’s School of Law in 1952 and became the first Black graduate of Loyola University when he graduated three years later, in 1955. Following law school, he served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Attorney’s Office, then served as dean of men at his college alma mater, Xavier University of Louisiana, where he became deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement.

Dr. Francis has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame, among other honors.

As an adviser to eight U.S. presidents on education and civil rights issues, he received more than 40 honorary degrees, including an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Loyola University in 1982.

At the Vatican, he served on the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of America, the Board of Directors of the National Council for Interracial Justice and 54 other boards and commissions.

Several of his awards are from Loyola, including Integritas Vitae in 1986 and Adjutor Hominum in 1991; also, Dr. Francis was a Loyola’s Law Visiting Committee and Board of Regents member.

The Black Law Students Association at Loyola awarded him the A.P. Tureaud Achievement Award in 2012. In 2015, Dr. Francis received the university’s St. Ives Award, the highest honor of the Loyola Law Alumni Association.

Loyola University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 1982.

In honor of Dr. Francis, one of New Orleans’ most prominent streets has been renamed in his honor. His portrait hangs in the Smithsonian Institution.

Last week, the National World War II Museum in New Orleans gave him the 2022 American Spirit Award.

By Josephine McNeal, Guest Columnist, 6/17/22

President Joe Biden declared June to be Black Music Appreciation Month, a time to celebrate the powerful influence Black music has had on American culture and heritage.

Originally created by former President Jimmy Carter in 1979, the appreciation month is reestablished every year with a presidential proclamation.

Time and time again, Black musicians have contributed a soundtrack for people’s lives and a safe expression of emotions.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, they performed at-home concerts. Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” and other songs expressed the emotions felt by so many navigating a life-stopping virus in the United States.

Music by Black artists also transformed our social media newsfeeds into safe havens. In 2020, social media became a space for the Black community to engage with lighthearted and uplifting content, such as R&B duo Chloe x Halle performing songs from their tennis court. Social media influencers, including Jalaiah Harmon, used catchy dance challenges as a way to bring happiness across people’s timelines as they quarantined at home.

Some Black artists, including rapper Lupe Fiasco, have also taken to social media to advocate for COVID-19 vaccines.

After saying his fans would need to be vaccinated in order to attend his 2020 concert, the rapper received harsh pushback from people on Twitter. Despite the comments, he did not backpedal. He told fans his decision came from searching for options outside of vaccines.

With more outdoor and indoor music events this summer, it’s crucial for Black Americans to get shots into their arms.

“Be vigilant, vaccinated, boosted, double boosted, sanitized and distanced,” said Gary Hines director and producer of the three-time Grammy Award-winning inspirational group Sounds of Blackness. “This will be the first full celebration of Juneteenth, which is now an official, national holiday. Our latest song release, ‘Juneteenth,’ is an anthem about the themes of this season: celebration, liberation and freedom. And part of that freedom and celebration should be vaccination.”

The bottom line: The pandemic became a space where Black musicians took the time to make sense of the world around them and defiantly tell their stories, personal and political. Their musical talents and uplifting mantras have moved us onward and upward. With more vaccinations, we can keep moving in the right direction.

For resources and toolkits to help you build vaccine confidence in your community, visit the We Can Do This website.

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By Amanda Sealy, CNN, 4/10/22

(CNN) - Two-plus years into the Covid-19 pandemic, you probably know the basics of protection: vaccines, boosters, proper handwashing and masks. But one of the most powerful tools against the coronavirus is one that experts believe is just starting to get the attention it deserves: ventilation.

"The challenge for organizations that improve air quality is that it's invisible," said Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

It's true: Other Covid tools are more tangible. But visualizing how the virus might behave in poorly ventilated spaces can help people better understand this mitigation measure.

Allen likens it to cigarette smoke. "If I'm smoking in the corner of a classroom and you have low ventilation/filtration, that room is going to fill up with smoke, and everyone is breathing that same air."

Then apply that to the outdoors.

"I could be smoking a cigarette, you could be a couple of feet from me, depending which way the wind was blowing, you may not even know I'm smoking."

If you're indoors, you could be breathing in less fresh air than you think.

"Everybody in a room together is constantly breathing air that just came out of the lungs of other people in that room. And depending on the ventilation rate, it could be as much as 3% or 4% of the air you're breathing just came out of the lungs of other people in that room," Allen said.

He describes this as respiratory backwash.

"Normally, that's not a problem, right? We do this all the time. We're always exchanging our respiratory microbiomes with each other. But if someone's sick and infectious ... those aerosols can carry the virus. That's a problem."

"We've known for decades how to keep people safe in buildings from infection, from airborne infectious diseases like this one," Allen said.

From the beginning of the pandemic, Allen and other experts have waved red flags, saying that the way we were thinking about transmission of Covid-19 -- surfaces, large respiratory droplets -- was missing the point.

"Hand washing and social distancing are appropriate but, in our view, insufficient to provide protection from virus-carrying respiratory microdroplets released into the air by infected people. This problem is especially acute in indoor or enclosed environments, particularly those that are crowded and have inadequate ventilation," hundreds of scientists stated in an open letter in July 2020.

Eventually, the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged what the experts had been saying all along: that Covid-19 could also spread by small aerosolized particles that can travel more than 6 feet.

The coronavirus itself is very small -- about 0.1 microns -- but that doesn't affect how far it can travel.

"The size of the virus itself doesn't matter because, as we say, the virus is never naked in air. In other words, the virus is always traveling in respiratory particles that develop in our lungs. And those are all different sizes," Allen said.

Singing or coughing can emit particles as large as 100 microns (almost the width of a human hair), he said, but the virus tends to travel in smaller particles -- between 1 and 5 microns.

The size of these particles affects not only how far it can travel but how deeply we can breathe it into our lungs, and how we should approach protecting ourselves from this virus.

"When you're talking about an airborne disease, there's the what's right around you, you know, the sort of the people who you know can cough in your face, the 6 feet thing, and then there's the broader indoor air, because indoor air is recirculated," said Max Sherman, a leader on the Epidemic Task Force for the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.

"Outdoors is safer than indoors" has become an accepted mantra with Covid-19. Allen points out that protecting ourselves indoors is where our focus should always be, even beyond the pandemic.

"We're [an] indoors species. We spend 90% of our time indoors. The air we breathe indoors has a massive impact on our health, whether you think about infectious disease or anything else, but it just has escaped the public consciousness for a long time," he said.

Making sure our indoor air is healthy is not that complicated, Sherman said. "You just want to reduce the number of particles that might be carrying Covid or any other nasty [virus]."

The way you do that is through ventilation and filtration.

Filtration -- just like it sounds -- is filtering or cleaning the air, removing the infected particles. But think of ventilation as diluting the air. You're bringing more fresh air in to reduce the concentration of those particles.

Dilution is exactly why we haven't seen superspreader events outdoors, Allen says.

"We have hardly any transmission outdoors. Why is that? Unlimited dilution, because you have unlimited ventilation. And so, even in crowded protests or outdoor sporting events like the Super Bowl, we just don't see superspreading happening. But if we did, we'd have the signal be loud and clear. We just don't see it. It's all indoors in these underperforming, unhealthy spaces."

Even before the advent of HVAC systems, ventilation was integrated into many building designs.

The 1901 Tenement Housing Act of New York required every tenement building -- a building with multifamily households -- to have ventilation, running water and gas light.

Builders added ventilation to many of these buildings with a shaft in the middle that runs from the roof to the ground, allowing more airflow.

"In the late 19th century, people are finally starting to understand how disease spreads. So airshafts and the accompanying ventilation were seen as a solution to the public health crises that were happening in tenement buildings," said Katheryn Lloyd, director of programming at the Tenement Museum. "There were high cases of tuberculosis, diphtheria and other diseases that spread. Now we know that spread sort of through the air."

Today, we're facing the same challenge.

"Getting basic ventilation in your home is important, full stop," Sherman said.

One of the easiest, cheapest ways to do that is to open your windows.

Open doors or windows at opposite ends of your home to create cross-ventilation, the Environmental Protection Agency advises. Opening the highest and lowest windows -- especially if on different floors -- of a home can also increase ventilation. Adding an indoor fan can take it even further.

"If a single fan is used, it should be facing (and blowing air) in the same direction the air is naturally moving. You can determine the direction the air is naturally moving by observing the movement of drapes or by holding a light fabric or dropping paper clippings and noting which direction they move," the EPA says.

Just cracking a window can help a lot, Allen says: "Even propping a window open a couple inches to really facilitate higher air changes, especially if you do it in multiple places in the house, so you can create some pressure differentials."

It's important to note that if you have an HVAC system, it must be running to actually circulate or filter the air. The EPA says that these systems run less than 25% of the time during heating and cooling seasons.

"Most of the controls these days have a setting where you can run the fan on low all the time. And that's usually the best thing to do because that makes sure you're getting you're pushing air through the filter all the time and mixing the air up in your in your home," Sherman advised.

This could be something to keep in mind if you're going to have visitors or if someone in the household is at higher risk for severe illness.

Choose the most efficient filter your HVAC system can handle, and make sure you routinely change the filters.

Filters have a minimum efficiency reporting value, or MERV, rating that indicates how well they capture small particles. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers recommends using at least a MERV-13 filter, which it says is at least 85% efficient at capturing particles from 1 to 3 microns.

If that's not an option, portable air filters can also work well, but the EPA says to use one that is made for the intended room size and meets at least one of these criteria:

When you walk into a space, there's no good rule of thumb to look around and gauge how well-ventilated it might be, and that can be a challenge when people have been tasked with assessing their own risk.

Allen suggests starting with the basics: Make sure you're up to date with vaccinations and aware of where Covid-19 numbers stand in your community.

But then it gets harder. Even the number of people in a space isn't a giveaway of a higher-risk situation.

"The more people in there could be higher-risk because you're more likely to have someone who's infectious, but if the ventilation is good, it really doesn't matter."

Ventilation standards are based on "an amount of fresh air per person, plus the amount of fresh air per square foot," Allen explained. "So if you have a good system, the more people that enter the room, the more ventilation is brought in to the room."

One tool that can help you assess ventilation in a room is a CO2 monitor, something Allen wishes he saw more in public spaces. He likes to carry a portable one, which you can order online for between $100 and $200.

"If you see under 1,000 parts per million, generally, you're hitting the ventilation targets that are the design standard. But remember, these are not health-based standards. So we want to see higher ventilation rates."

Allen prefers to see CO2 at or under 800 parts per million. He also notes that just because a space has low CO2 levels, it might not be unsafe if filtration is high, like on an airplane.

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring says the installation of 5,000 air filtration units -- enough for every classroom -- in her school district is "a gamechanger."

The district had begun upgrading HVAC systems in several schools even before the pandemic, but federal funding allowed it to add filtration units during a crucial time when masks have become optional.

"It gives a greater level of confidence for us as a system to know that our air filtration systems are in place," Herring said.

School districts all over the country have been jumping at the opportunity for ventilation upgrades made possible by an influx of federal funding.

An analysis in February by FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, found that public schools had earmarked $4.4 billion for HVAC projects, which could grow to almost $10 billion if trends continued.

New Hampshire's Manchester School District is pouring almost $35 million into upgrading HVAC systems, and interim Superintendent Jennifer Gillis says federal funding is "absolutely key."

"You think about a district of our size with all the competing demands and the need to be fiscally responsible, a $35 million project, that's a large project to introduce to our budget. Having those funds available to us lets us do 19 projects -- and 19 projects in a very short span of time."

For Gillis, ventilation has been an important mitigation strategy and an unobtrusive way to keep people safe.

"It's something that most in the building don't think about, but it's a very passive way for us to create safety within the schools. Since the beginning, the goal was always 'let's get our kids in, let's get our staff in, but let's do it in a way that's safe for all of them.' "

Good ventilation isn't only about keeping students safe from Covid-19, Sherman says. It can also improve their performance in school.

"They're going to learn better; they're going to be awake more; they're going to be more receptive. They're going to be healthier if they've got good indoor air quality," he said.

Helping solidify ventilation's role in the Covid-19 battle, the Biden administration announced a Clean Air in Buildings Challenge last month.

The challenge calls on building operators and owners to improve ventilation by following guidelines laid out by the EPA.

The main actions include creating a clean indoor air action plan, optimizing fresh air ventilation, enhancing air filtration and cleaning, and engaging the building community by communicating with occupants to increase awareness, commitment and participation.

The message may seem overdue, but it's one that Allen enthusiastically welcomed.

"The White House used its pulpit to say unequivocally that clean air and buildings matter. That's massive. Regardless of what you think about what will happen next with implementation or what happens with the funding. That is a crystal-clear message that is already being heard by businesses, nonprofits, universities and state leaders. I see these changes happening already."

Schools and early care and education (ECE) programs are an important part of the infrastructure of communities as they provide safe, supportive learning environments for students and children and enable parents and caregivers to be at work. Schools and ECE programs like Head Start also provide critical services that help to mitigate health disparities, such as school lunch programs, and social, physical, behavioral, and mental health services. This guidance can help K-12 school and ECE program administrators support safe, in-person learning for K-12 schools, and keep ECE programs open, while managing the spread of COVID-19. Based on the COVID-19 Community Levels, this guidance provides flexibility so schools and ECE programs can adapt to changing local situations, including periods of increased community health impacts from COVID-19.

K-12 schools and ECE programs (e.g., center-based child care, family child care, Head Start, or other early learning, early intervention and preschool/pre-kindergarten programs delivered in schools, homes, or other settings) should put in place a core set of infectious disease prevention strategies as part of their normal operations. The addition and layering of COVID-19-specific prevention strategies should be tied to COVID-19 Community Levels. This CDC guidance is meant to supplement—not replace—any federal, state, tribal, local, or territorial health and safety laws, rules, and regulations with which schools and ECE programs must comply.

Schools and ECE programs play critical roles in promoting equity in learning and health, particularly for groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19. People living in rural areas, people with disabilities, immigrants, and people who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or African American, and Hispanic or Latino have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. These disparities have also emerged among children. School and ECE administrators and public health officials can promote equity in learning and health by demonstrating to families, teachers, and staff that comprehensive prevention strategies are in place to keep students, staff, families, and school communities safe and provide supportive environments for in-person learning.

Though this guidance is written for COVID-19 prevention, many of the layered prevention strategies described in this guidance can help prevent the spread of other infectious diseases, such as influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and norovirus, and support healthy learning environments for all. The next section describes everyday preventive actions that schools and ECE programs can take.

For more information on CDC COVID-19 Community Levels, visit:

Schools and ECE programs can take a variety of actions every day to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, including the virus that causes COVID-19. The following set of strategies for everyday operations should be in place at all COVID-19 Community Levels, including low levels.

Staying up to date on routine vaccinations is essential to prevent illness from many different infections. Vaccines reduce the risk of infection by working with the body’s natural defenses to help safely develop immunity to disease. For COVID-19, staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations is the leading public health strategy to prevent severe disease. Not only does it provide individual-level protection, but high vaccination coverage reduces the burden of COVID-19 on people, schools, healthcare systems, communities, and individuals who are not vaccinated or may not develop a strong immune response from the vaccines. Schools, ECE programs, and health departments can promote vaccination in many ways:

People with symptoms of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and gastrointestinal infections should stay home and get tested for COVID-19. People who are at risk for getting very sick with COVID-19 who test positive should consult with a healthcare provider right away for possible treatment, even if their symptoms are mild. Staying home when sick can lower the risk of spreading infectious diseases, including the virus that causes COVID-19, to other people. For more information on staying home when sick with COVID-19, including recommendations for mask use for people experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, see Quarantine and Isolation.

In accordance with applicable laws and regulations, schools and ECE programs should allow flexible, non-punitive, and supportive paid sick leave policies and practices. These policies should encourage sick workers to stay home without fear of retaliation, loss of pay, loss of employment, or other negative impacts. Schools should also provide excused absences for students who are sick, avoid policies that incentivize coming to school while sick, and support children who are learning at home if they are sick or in quarantine. Schools and ECE programs should ensure that employees are aware of and understand these policies and avoid language that penalizes or stigmatizes staying home when sick.

Schools and ECE programs can optimize ventilation and improve indoor air quality to reduce the risk of germs and contaminants spreading through the air. Funds provided through the U.S. Department of Education’s Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) Programs and the and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Programs and the Department of Health and Humans Services’ Head Start and Child Care American Rescue Plan funds can support improvements to ventilation; repairs, upgrades, and replacements in Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems; purchase of MERV-13 air filters and portable air cleaners; as well as implementation of other public health protocols and CDC guidance. Ventilation recommendations for different types of buildings can be found in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) schools and universities guidance. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air in Buildings Challenge provides specific steps schools and other buildings can take to improve indoor air quality and reduce the risk of airborne spread of viruses and other contaminants. CDC does not provide recommendations for, or against, any manufacturer or product.

Washing hands can prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Schools and ECE programs should teach and reinforce proper handwashing to lower the risk of spreading viruses, including the virus that causes COVID-19. Schools and ECE programs should monitor and reinforce these behaviors, especially during key times in the day (for example, before and after eating and after recess) and should also provide adequate handwashing supplies, including soap and water. If washing hands is not possible, schools and ECE programs should provide hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol. Hand sanitizers should be stored up, away, and out of sight of younger children and should be used only with adult supervision for children ages 5 years and younger.

Schools and ECE programs should teach and reinforce covering coughs and sneezes to help keep individuals from getting and spreading infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

Schools and ECE programs should clean surfaces at least once a day to reduce the risk of germs spreading by touching surfaces. If a facility has had a sick person or someone who tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 24 hours, the space should be cleaned and disinfected. For more information, see Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Facility. Additionally, ECE programs should follow recommended procedures for cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfection in their setting such as after diapering, feeding, and exposure to bodily fluids. See Caring for Our Children...

MAY 31, 2022 - In her talk, Laverne Toombs discusses a very different "F Bomb" than you would think in her story of how to live a better life. TBD This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Click on the link below to listen to a powerful message.

MAY 20, 2022 - Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus delivered his message during the kick-off of the annual World Health Assembly–the decision-making body of WHO comprised of representatives of 194 countries.

Noting that it was the first time since 2019 that the Assembly could take place in-person, he asked Ministers where the world stood two years into the most severe health crisis in a century.

“So, is it COVID-19 over? No, it’s most certainly not over. I know that’s not the message you want to hear, and it’s definitely not the message I want to deliver”, he highlighted.

He added that although in many countries all restrictions have been lifted and life looks much like it did before the pandemic, reported cases are increasing in almost 70 countries in all regions.

“…And this in a world in which testing rates have plummeted”, he added.

Tedros warned that reported deaths are also rising in Africa, the continent with the lowest vaccination coverage.

“This virus has surprised us at every turn – a storm that has torn through communities again and again, and we still can’t predict its path, or its intensity”, he emphasised.

While agreeing that there is progress with 60% of the world’s population already vaccinated, Tedros reminded that almost one billion people in lower-income countries remain unvaccinated.

“It’s not over anywhere until it’s over everywhere… Only 57 countries have vaccinated 70% of their population – almost all of them high-income countries”, he noted.

The WHO chief also warned that increasing transmission means more deaths and more risk of a new variant emerging, and the current decline of testing and sequencing means “we are blinding ourselves to the evolution of the virus”.

He pointed out as well that in some countries there is still insufficient political commitment to roll out vaccines, and there are still gaps in operational and financial capacity.

“And in all, we see vaccine hesitancy driven by misinformation and disinformation”, he added.

Tedros said that WHO’s primary focus now is to support countries to turn vaccines into vaccinations as fast as possible, but they are still seeing supply-side problems for tests and therapeutics with insufficient funds and access.

“The pandemic will not magically disappear. But we can end it. We have the knowledge. We have the tools. Science has given us the upper hand”, he said, calling on countries to work together to reach 70% of vaccination coverage.

DALLAS, TEXAS (May 20, 2022) — Today the Biden-Harris Administration through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $500 million is now available for school districts and other eligible school bus operators and contractors to begin replacing the nation’s fleet of school buses with clean, American-made, zero-emission buses.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Administrator Michael S. Regan and White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu will visit Meridian High School in Falls Church, Virginia to make the announcement and highlight how it will reduce greenhouse gas pollution, provide cleaner air around schools and communities, and better protect children’s health. The investment will also drive demand for American-made batteries and vehicles, boost domestic manufacturing, and create good-paying jobs. The new funding is made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which invests an unprecedented $5 billion for low- and zero-emission school buses over the next five years.

“Reducing gas emissions from vehicles has been a top priority for EPA,” said Region 6 Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “Diesel air pollution is linked to asthma and other health problems that hurt our communities and cause students to miss school, particularly in communities of color and Tribal communities. For the next five years, this program will drastically improve bus fleets across Region 6 and reduce fossil fuel dependence. By directly reducing diesel emissions, we safeguard children’s health within our Region and work towards a cleaner, safer, and brighter future for all.”

Diesel air pollution is linked to asthma and other health problems that hurt our communities and cause students to miss school, particularly in communities of color and Tribal communities. New, zero-emission and low-emission buses will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but produce cleaner air for students, bus drivers, school staff working near the bus loading areas, and the communities that the buses drive through each day. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from these bus replacements will help to address the outsized role of the transportation sector on fueling climate change. In addition, zero-emission buses cost less for school districts to operate than diesel buses, and the electricity stored in zero-emission school buses can transmit energy back to the grid to meet extra energy demand or provide energy to communities during power outages.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allows EPA to prioritize applications that will replace buses serving high-need local education agencies, Tribal Schools, and rural areas. This approach supports President Biden’s Justice40 initiative to direct at least 40% of the benefits of certain government investments to underserved communities. EPA’s Clean School Bus Program will strive to meet this commitment and advance environmental justice and equity considerations into all aspects of our work. In addition, EPA will focus education and outreach efforts to underserved communities, including partnering with stakeholders to reach communities that may have never applied for a Federal grant or rebate. Portions of the rebates can also be used to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure so that schools can make chargers available for the new buses. The rebate program will select awardees through a lottery system.

EPA is accepting applications from May 20, 2022 until August 19, 2022. Questions about applying may be directed to CleanSchoolBus@epa.gov.

This is the first competition that EPA is running through the Clean School Bus program. The Agency will also launch a grant competition later this year. Further Clean School Bus competitions funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be run every year over the next five years.

To learn more about the rebate programs, applicant eligibility, selection process, and informational webinar dates, visit our webpage.

(MAY 18, 2022) - Black people continue to be among the communities hit hardest by COVID-19. But with more research on Long COVID coming to the surface, experts say the nature of the pandemic is changing.

Dr. Carol Oladele, director of research at Yale’s Equity Research and Innovation Center, says while experts don’t have all the answers about the long-term COVID condition, studies are underway and past trends suggest the Black community could be heavily affected.

“All the studies are all trying to figure out what are the factors that cause people to continue to have symptoms beyond four weeks after infection. People thought that Black Americans would be most affected by Long COVID because they were disproportionately affected by COVID,” she says.

“The State of Black America and COVID-19, ” a report released by the Black Coalition Against COVID in March details how Black families were impacted by primary infections during the pandemic.

For example, 1 in 310 Black children experienced the loss of a parent or caregiver compared to 1 in 738 white children between April 2020 and June 2021, according to the report.

But once the acute phase of the virus — with its accompanying fever, sore throat, body aches and other symptoms — has passed, too many Americans aren’t getting better.

 "Black people are more likely to work in essential worker positions, live in crowded conditions, and be incarcerated — which increases the risk of contracting the virus." 

An estimated 7% of people who contracted COVID are expected to experience Long COVID — 4.4% of people who weren’t hospitalized, 21.7% of people who were hospitalized, and 36.5% of people who were admitted to intensive care, according to report from Nature.

“The evidence so far shows that Black Americans and folks who are Hispanic are more likely to experience symptoms that are characterized as Long COVD,” says Oladele, who contributed to the Black Coalition Against COVID’s two-year assessment.

People with Long COVID are dealing with fatigue, shortness of breath, and headaches — among other symptoms — for weeks or months after contracting the virus. The report from Nature shows Black people are more likely than other demographics to experience acute kidney injury, diabetes, chest pain, and cough.

Oladele says in January, a time when there appeared to be an overall reduction in cases, Black Americans were still seeking care, seeing the highest rates of COVID-associated hospitalizations since the pandemic started.

“It was sort of masking the continued burden that Black Americans were continuing to experience in a negative way,” she says. “The hospitalization rates were high, meaning people were sick enough to need the hospitalization.”

The disproportionate impact of COVID on the Black community is due in part to preexisting social and structural inequities. Black people are more likely to work in essential worker positions, live in crowded conditions, and be incarcerated — which increases the risk of contracting the virus.

And while Black folks continue to work and live in places with dense populations, mask mandates are being lifted.

These factors could also contribute to disparities in Long COVID, Oladele says. To reduce the potential of this happening, she says it’s important for the Black community to be represented in studies. And in order for that to happen, barriers keeping Black people from participating must be addressed.

“It’s really important to include communities in these studies that are seeking to identify novel treatments because they were hardest hit,” Oladele says. “And they’re the ones that stand to benefit since they were hardest hit. So, thinking about ways to increase representation by addressing those social and structural barriers to clinical trial participation or study participation.”

Oladele says a part of this is addressing transportation and childcare issues. “A lot of Black Americans are overrepresented in essential worker jobs and work jobs that involve hourly wages,” Oladele says. “So, you know, maybe compensating people for missing hourly wages and embedding study sites within communities that were hardest hit.”

On top of high rates of infection, Black folks faced discrimination and bias while seeking COVID care, a poll conducted by the NAACP reveals.

64% of Black people who participated said they’re less likely than white people to be offered testing and 60% felt they’re less likely to have everything done to save their lives in the hospital.

Now researchers are saying the burden of Long COVID is falling heavily on non-hospitalized people. With that, the medical system could be challenged with surges in acute infections and caring for COVID-19 survivors who will require substantial support.

Still, Black people must keep care in mind when considering Long COVID.

“I think it’s particularly important for Black people to know that it’s important to seek treatment and share that you’re symptomatic with your providers — if you have a primary care provider,” Oladele says. “We don’t yet know the long-term consequences of Long COVID, but it’s really important to share that you’re continuing to have symptoms.”

MAY 16, 2022 - The waterfall of one-time federal funds that deluged schools in 2020 and 2021 is driving big investments and posing steep challenges for the school leaders tasked with managing them, a new report by the Association of School Business Officials finds.

School districts invested the first two of three rounds of pandemic aid (known colloquially as ESSER I, II, and III, for “Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief”) in equipment to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and help students stay connected to school while stuck at home.

The report also says they’re concentrating attention for the third and largest round of funding on helping students recover from the pandemic and making long-overdue improvements to technology and facilities.

Some districts, like the Lincoln County schools in Oregon, are waiting to use their full set of ESSER funds in hopes that the pandemic and acute labor shortages relax in the near future. The report quotes an anonymous official from that district:

“We very much want to provide additional afterschool learning opportunities, targeted tutoring, targeted supports for underserved students, and mental health support staff, but cannot hire enough support staff and substitutes to run our schools at normal levels, much less add these programs.”

But the federal government is urging schools to move quickly and invest in other ways if staffing is proving too difficult right now, said Robert Rodríguez, assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development.

“These dollars need to be put to use now to meet the urgent needs of our learners, and to help support the environments in which they’re recovering and growing and reacclimating to their learning,” Rodríguez told Beth Frerking, Education Week’s editor-in-chief, during a virtual conversation at the 2022 Education Week Leadership Symposium on Wednesday.

Here are four takeaways from the school business officials association’s report, which reflects a survey of 154 districts across 35 states:

Some school funding advocates and media outlets have criticized districts for taking their time spending the funds. But 42 percent of respondents said more than three-quarters of their funds are already obligated, which means they’re legally or contractually committed to be spent on certain concrete items. More than half of that group said all of their funds are already obligated.

Still, a similar proportion—37 percent—of districts said less than half their ESSER allocation was obligated as of Jan. 31. That number has likely shrunk since then. But a sizable chunk of districts are still working out how to make the most of this unprecedented federal investment.

That’s not always because districts are dragging their feet, though. Eight percent of respondents said that as of the end of January, their state still hadn’t approved their ESSER plan document, which meant they couldn’t proceed with spending the money. Florida and Missouri, for instance, waited until a year after Congress approved the American Rescue Plan funding package in 2021 before allowing districts to access their entire allocation.

More than half of respondents said they’re using ESSER II and III funds to address unfinished learning. That’s not surprising. Lost instructional time has been one of the major talking points in the fallout from the pandemic, even if not everyone agrees on how severe the problem is. For ESSER III, the most recent funding package that was approved in March 2021 districts are required to spend at least 20 percent of their allocation addressing it.

The range of approaches to addressing unfinished learning is vast. The most common one, with 63 percent of respondents, is expanding summer and enrichment opportunities for students. Just over half of districts using ESSER funds to address unfinished learning are adding specialist staff to support student needs.

More than a third of respondents are investing ESSER funds in each of the following categories under the umbrella of addressing unfinished learning:

A smaller subset of districts is hiring staff to reduce class sizes (18 percent); extending the school day or year (17 percent), offering flexible timing for classes on weekends or evenings (12 percent), and expanding early childhood programs (7 percent).

Proponents of improving school facilities during COVID-19 emphasized the importance of improving air quality by upgrading HVAC systems. Many districts are years or even decades behind on HVAC repairs, and 47 percent of districts that answered the survey used ESSER funds to catch up.

The next most common facilities upgrade, though, is one that’s flown under the radar: providing safer drinking water (28 percent).

The water crisis in Flint, Mich., last decade brought renewed attention to high levels of lead and other toxic chemicals in school water fountains. Since then, many districts have sought to convert fountains to touchless water bottle refilling stations, which tend to curb the use of plastic water bottles that harm the environment, and reduce the spread of bacteria and germs. West Virginia recently passed a bill requiring all newly constructed or renovated public schools to be outfitted with water refilling stations.

ESSER has helped pursue that goal for districts in DeKalb County, Ga., Meridian, Miss., and Shelby County, Tenn.

Other facilities improvements include repairs to existing facilities (19 percent), building outdoor learning spaces (17 percent), and new construction (4 percent).

But while some critics of ESSER spending have blasted districts that have spent that money to upgrade athletic facilities, only 3 percent of districts have done so.

Facing competing pressure to spend quickly and produce strong results, more than half of districts (53 percent) said figuring out whether to spend quickly or to strategically extend the funds over a long period of time is a major challenge. More than half (56 percent) also said they’re concerned about the fiscal cliff that will appear in a couple years, when ESSER money runs out and key spending priorities might not be sustainable in the long term.

Slightly more than a third of responding districts said labor shortages are a major challenge; 34 percent cited supply chain effects on product shipment delays; and 21 percent said they feel constrained by timelines that may prevent facilities projects from coming to fruition.

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Mark Lieberman is a reporter for Education Week who covers school finance. He previously covered technology and online learning for Education Week and, before that, for Inside Higher Ed. 

Washington (CNN) - The Biden administration is issuing a new warning that the US could potentially see 100 million Covid-19 infections this fall and winter, as officials publicly stress the need for more funding from Congress to prepare the nation.

The projection of 100 million potential infections is an estimate based on a range of outside models that are being closely tracked by the administration and would include both the fall and winter, a senior administration official told CNN. Officials say this estimate is based on an underlying assumption of no additional resources or extra mitigation measures being taken, including new Covid-19 funding from Congress, or dramatic new variants.

The White House is sharing these estimates as officials renew their push to get Congress to approve additional funding to combat the virus and as the nation approaches a coronavirus death toll of 1 million. Officials have said the White House will commemorate the moment when the US surpasses 1 million deaths from Covid-19.

The Biden administration has been sounding the alarm for weeks that additional funding is needed to continue the federal Covid-19 response, even as it seeks a return to "normal" with many pandemic-era restrictions lifting.

The 100 million estimate was first reported by The Washington Post.

CNN has reported that the Biden administration requested $22.5 billion in supplemental Covid-19 relief funding in March in a massive government funding package but it was stripped from the bill. That request included funding for testing, treatments, therapeutics and preventing future outbreaks. Negotiators were able to reach an agreement on a scaled-back $10 billion package, but Congress left Washington in April without passing that bipartisan bill amid a disagreement over the Title 42 immigration policy -- a pandemic-era rule that allowed migrants to be returned immediately to their home countries, citing a public health emergency.

January 18, 2022 - Indoor air quality is paramount to a pandemic response plan--learn how a multi-layered approach can help your district.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented education with challenges and opportunities. On one hand, the massive move to digital learning and one-to-one programs has accelerated districts’ plans for edtech adoption. On the other, state and district leaders must ensure safe learning environments as schools strive to remain open—and paying attention to indoor air quality is critical.

Mandatory mask mandates, social distancing, routine handwashing, hybrid learning—schools are juggling a number of safety protocols. And while these steps are important, COVID-19 is airborne, meaning air purification and indoor air quality are of the utmost importance.

Providing healthier air can significantly reduce the anxiety levels of students, faculty, and staff—and students who are less stressed are able to learn better.

A layered approach to protection is recommended and can help school leaders ensure safe learning environments, according to Brooke Pitcher, Director of Facilities at Marin Country Day School, and Kelly Hayes of Surgically Clean Air.

Air quality was always a concern at Pitcher’s school, which has a mix of buildings from mid-1950’s and new buildings. But the pandemic escalated that concern.

“It was never on the forefront as far as an urgent concern, then obviously, like everybody else, the pandemic hit and we were swamped,” he said during an eSchool News webinar. “All of a sudden that secondary air quality conversation immediately came to the forefront.

A layered approach to clean and healthy air, focusing on air purification and indoor air quality, includes:

And while HVAC improvements and attention to indoor air quality are important, school leaders also need to focus on the classroom at the “source” of potential infections and outbreaks. Portable air cleaners give schools flexibility to increase air purification whenever and wherever needed.

Each school should evaluate its specific needs based on its number of classrooms, shared areas, capacity, etc.

Watch the full eSchool News webinar for more.

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by Michael Gilraine, 10/28/2020

BROWN CENTER CHALKBOARD - The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an increased focus on public health, particularly in school settings. From social distancing to testing regimes, education leaders are making serious changes to ensure that schools are safe for students, staff, and teachers. As the school experience continues to be reinvented, research points to an overlooked but potentially critical factor when thinking about reopening: air quality. While we have known for some time about the negative effects of air pollution on child health, recent evidence indicates that pollution also has detrimental effects on student learning. In turn, these relationships suggest the potential for some highly cost-effective interventions to raise student performance—and keep kids safer during the pandemic.

To date, most research has linked pollution to student learning using variation in outdoor air pollution. Researchers (see here and here) have documented significant declines in test scores when students take tests on days with high levels of particulate pollution. Another study compared students attending schools downwind relative to upwind of highways and found that increased air pollution from being downwind lowered test scores and raised behavioral incidents and absences. Similarly, in a recent working paper, a co-author and I use year-to-year variation in power production combined with wind direction to show that pollution from coal-fired power plants lower students’ test scores.

Several recent papers have been able to link indoor air quality to reduced cognitive performance. Research from chess tournaments found that a player’s probability of making an erroneous chess move (as determined by a chess engine) increased when particulate matter at the tournament venue was higher. An economist at the London School of Economics also linked indoor air quality to test performance. To do so, he collected air particulate readings in exam rooms at a university in London. He found that exam rooms at the university varied considerably in terms of air quality, and that students performed worse when they were assigned to exam rooms with higher levels of air pollution.

Naturally, this evidence should spur policymakers to reduce children’s exposure to airborne pollutants. In general, the news has been positive on this front, with the average exposure to airborne pollutants in the United States declining by almost a third since 2000, according to satellite- and ground-based measures. These improvements have been driven by environmental regulations such as the Clean Air Act, along with the striking decline in coal use due to cheaper and cleaner alternatives, especially natural gas.

While the improvements in ambient air quality are commendable, children are also exposed to high levels of airborne pollutants indoors. Indoor air quality is a result of complex interactions between local meteorology, surrounding structures, and building characteristics (e.g., building ventilation, location of air intakes, etc.). Given this, indoor air pollution is highly spatially and temporally variable. For example, one of the key drivers of indoor air pollution is human movements causing the resuspension of settled dust, making it so that classroom air quality is worst when students enter/exit classes for recess or lunch. Researchers in London found that air quality inside classrooms was worse than the air quality outside. Given that students spend one-half of their waking time on weekdays at school, such evidence spotlights schools as a natural location to reduce students’ exposure to air pollution.

In that vein, one way to improve air quality inside classrooms is to upgrade aging schools. Research in this area has been promising, with one study in Texas looking at mold and ventilation remediation projects and finding that these renovations substantially raised test scores by about 0.1-0.15 of a standard deviation. These projects were costly, however, with the average remediation project costing between $300,000 and $500,000. Similar beneficial effects on test scores have been found using new school construction, although these entail even higher costs.

Clean air may be a basic human right, but unfortunately it’s not a reality for many school children around the world – putting them at greater risk of exposure to airborne illnesses and pollutants. Despite mitigation efforts, COVID-19 will be with us for a long time, not to mention future viruses and other illnesses that keep children out of school, such as the common cold, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). While we can’t eliminate germs, we can curb their spread in schools by addressing air filtration and overall air quality.

Air pollution has long been a threat to human health, but the global pandemic has escalated the urgency associated with indoor air. Given that the average American student spends more than 14,000 hours in a classroom over their lifetime – more than a quarter of their life – the air inside schools matters. It’s also important to note that schools tend to be densely populated, with typically four times as many occupants than office buildings with a similar floor plan and square footage. Yet, educational infrastructure in most countries around the world has long been underfunded and over-extended.

With many schools receiving pandemic relief funding, there is an unprecedented opportunity to invest in long-lasting changes that will improve current learning environments and benefit future generations of students. School infrastructure has been low on the list of priorities in many countries for years, but the pandemic has helped to boost it higher on the global agenda, shining a light on the indoor air problem.

Governments must earmark relief funding for school infrastructure upgrades and school districts must commit to implementation, with a renewed focus on modernizing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. It may be tempting to spend relief funds on the latest tech gadgets, but first, we need to prioritize the most basic need: upgraded physical buildings that provide healthy and safe spaces where children can learn.

The pandemic has forced school administrators around the world to experiment with a variety of measures for keeping schools safe. While not as attention grabbing as mask mandates and vaccine innovations, air quality improvements through ventilation and filtration, have emerged as an effective way to curtail the spread of airborne illness. One study, for example, conducted by the CDC and Georgia Department of Health found that COVID-19 cases were 39% lower in schools that improved air ventilation.

Given ample reported data and best practices on how to modernize schools, countries do not need to start from scratch – they can consult existing resources, such as the 2021 State of Our Schools Report and the US Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Initiative, and learn from those who are further along on their journeys.

Communication and transparency are key, and currently many parents and teachers feel uninformed. Whether a school is working to address air quality now or plans to in the future, the status of upgrades and efforts should be reported regularly to discourage parents and teachers from taking air quality monitoring into their own hands, like sneaking CO2 monitors into school buildings.

Teachers surveyed across eight countries consistently reported that their students had lost educational ground while forced to learn remotely during the pandemic, revealing that online learning is not as effective as in-person teaching. And not surprisingly, children from poorer households were disproportionately impacted and suffered from greater learning loss, exacerbating existing educational inequalities. Teachers working in high-poverty schools found virtual classes to be especially ineffective, rating it 3.5 out of 10.

Technology provided a way for students to stay engaged while the world battled the pandemic but now, two years in, it’s clear that kids are better off in the classroom. Not only is the educational cost of online learning too high but the social, emotional and mental impacts of remote learning are too devastating. As teachers work to catch kids up academically, governments and school administrators must address the air quality, which is fundamental to keeping children healthy and schools open.

In addition to slowing the spread of airborne viruses, schools need to mitigate the impacts of climate change, including upgrading aging facilities to keep occupants safe and comfortable in the face of increasing pollution and extreme temperatures. For schools struggling to meet current standards, it will only get more challenging so they must act now. Inefficient school buildings cost more in the long run, leading to high utility bills. If air systems worked better, saved resources could be reinvested in technology, books, teachers’ salaries, etc.

Upgrading to modern HVAC systems that monitor air quality, maintain comfortable temperatures and ensure proper filtration will also likely improve academic performance. An economist from the London School of Economics makes the case that air quality impacts test scores, with students performing worse when assigned to classrooms with higher levels of air pollution and better when in classrooms with air purifiers. Indoor air pollution has also been linked to an increased likelihood of increased absenteeism from school.

While we may not be able to thwart the increasingly transmissible COVID-19 variants, one thing we can control quite easily is the air, and we should do it now on a global scale. Our children’s education and health depend on it.

NPR - Not many people can say the pandemic has made their jobs easier. But in some ways, Tracy Enger can.

"You know, it is such a hallelujah moment, absolutely," says Enger, who works at the Environmental Protection Agency's Indoor Environments Division. For more than 25 years, she's been fighting to improve the air quality inside of America's schools.

But there are lots of competing demands for limited school budgets. And in the past, getting school districts to prioritize indoor air quality hasn't been easy. Often, she says, it took some kind of crisis to get schools to focus on the issue – "when they found the mold problem, when their asthma rates were kind of going through the roof."

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic — spread by virus particles that can build up in indoor air and linger, sometimes for hours. Key to clearing out those infectious particles: good ventilation and filtration. For example, one study of Georgia schools linked improved ventilation strategies, combined with HEPA filtration, to a 48% lower rate of COVID.

Suddenly — finally — lots of people have started to pay attention to indoor air quality in schools, says Anisa Heming, director of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council.

"It matters more to people right now," says Heming. "COVID is this immediate threat that has made air quality immediately relevant."

That's why she and other indoor air-quality experts say the Biden administration's new National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan is a step in the right direction: It specifically highlights the need to help schools upgrade their ventilation systems for the long term, using funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Heming says in the past, it's been hard to make a health case for improving air quality in schools, because the health impacts tend to be longer term. But a whole body of research shows the health and academic benefits are substantial — and go beyond COVID. When a room is better ventilated, influenza rates, asthma attacks and absenteeism go down, reading and math test scores go up. Less carbon dioxide builds up in a room, which helps students think more clearly.

"It's well documented across all different countries and all different ages," says Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University. "We see benefits in kindergarteners, we see benefits in high school, we see benefits in college students and middle schoolers — every age group."

Allen says understanding these long-term benefits of upgrading ventilation is vital, "because an investment right now is not just a short-term investment for COVID. If a school does this right, they can expect not only years, but decades of benefits to health beyond reductions in infectious disease transmission."

And experts say those investments are desperately needed, because most U.S. schools are poorly ventilated to begin with. The average American school is over 45 years old, and many have HVAC systems that are outdated or need repairs, according to a 2020 report from the Government Accountability Office. Some schools are so old, they don't even have mechanical ventilation systems.

"I don't think a lot of people recognize that the design standards [that govern ventilation rates in schools and other buildings] are bare minimums. They were never actually set for health," says Allen.

Carl Thurnau knows all too well just how bad deferred school maintenance can get. Several years ago, a classroom ceiling actually collapsed at a school in the City School District of New Rochelle, N.Y. That's when the district recruited Thurnau, an engineer, to become its director of facilities to oversee a $106 million overhaul of buildings — a process that was already funded and in motion when COVID struck. That money meant the school district could quickly pivot to implement ventilation upgrades in response to COVID.

Having funding in place "is why we were able to get ahead of this — and in my opinion, stay ahead," Thurnau says. But "there's no doubt that districts with less financial resources are struggling to find the money to solve some of these problems."

Ventilation and green building experts have been offering schools guidance on how to improve their air quality to reduce COVID risk since the early days of the pandemic, even before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged the virus could spread through the air. Broadly speaking, Allen says, the advice boils down to three major things: increasing the amount of outdoor air in a classroom; using higher-efficiency MERV filters in HVAC systems; and supplementing these measures with portable air cleaners with HEPA filters.

But two years in, it's unclear how many schools have actually made these changes. That information isn't tracked at the federal level, though some reports hint at the challenges schools have faced. What's clear, says Allen, is that while a lot of schools have taken steps to improve ventilation, many others haven't. "Some haven't done the basic measures, the stopgap measures," Allen says.

Heming says schools have been able to tap federal funds for ventilation upgrades since late December 2020, and the American Rescue Plan Act, passed in March 2021, made a lot more money — $122 billion — available to schools for this and other pandemic-related purposes.

So why have many schools been slow to act when it comes to indoor air quality? Last year, the Center for Green Schools published a survey of more than 47 school districts representing 2.5 million students in 24 states. The vast majority of them said they prefer to invest in long-term solutions rooted in revamping or replacing their HVAC systems.

But with so many old and outdated school buildings, Heming says "these strategies that schools need to use require that they do pretty major renovations."

That kind of work takes many months to plan and contract. In many cases, she says, those plans are only being firmed up now. And a recent survey found many school districts are worried that they won't be able to complete the work by a September 2024 deadline under the law, especially because of supply chain issues and labor and material shortages.

Stopgap measures like opening windows or using portable air cleaners really do work to improve indoor air quality, Heming says, but they can only take schools so far. For example, open windows aren't realistic when outdoor temperatures are freezing, she says, and in humid regions, they can pull in more humidity, promoting the growth of mold.

And while many school districts have invested in stand-alone portable air cleaners, they come with their own headaches, says Heming: The units can be disruptively noisy and they need to be stored and maintained over time.

In general, she says, the school districts that were able to move quickest to improve their air ventilation and filtration in response to the pandemic were those that already had money available to upgrade their facilities, and in many cases, they'd already assessed their buildings and knew which ones needed work.

But there are some encouraging signs that more schools may be catching up soon. An analysis released in February by FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University, found that school districts already had plans in place to spend about $4.4 billion on HVAC updates, and if trends continue, that could reach nearly $10 billion. Another FutureEd analysis found that high-poverty districts are more likely to plan to use federal funds to upgrade aging ventilation systems.

The EPA's Enger says interest in the agency's guidance on indoor air quality for school has skyrocketed over the last year. "What we are seeing is this moment turning into a movement for improving indoor air quality in schools and creating healthier learning spaces," she says.

Heming says she's also optimistic, but her enthusiasm is tempered. She notes that the $122 billion of American Rescue Plan funds designated for schools has to pay for a host of pandemic-related needs — from hiring more staff to summer school programs — not just ventilation upgrades.

Even if every last dime of the American Rescue Plan funds for schools were spent on facilities, "it's still a big gap between that and what's actually needed," Heming says. A 2021 report found that each year, districts spend $85 billion less than what's needed to get schools into good condition.

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Maria Godoy is a senior science and health editor and correspondent with NPR News. Her reporting can be heard across NPR's news shows and podcasts. She is also one of the hosts of NPR's Life Kit.

NATIONWIDE - The 2022 “State of the Air” report, released earlier this month by the American Lung Association, finds that despite progress, an unacceptable number of Americans are still living in areas with poor air quality that could impact their health. Nearly 9 million more Americans are affected by deadly particle pollution than last year’s report; and the burden of air pollution is unevenly shared as communities of color continue to be disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air.

The Lung Association’s 23rd annual air quality “report card” tracks and grades Americans’ exposure to unhealthy levels of short-term spikes in particle pollution (also known as soot), annual particle pollution, and ground-level ozone air pollution (also known as smog) over a three-year period.

“This year’s ‘State of the Air’ report shows an alarming number of people are living in areas with poor air quality that could impact their health. As a pulmonologist living in Southern California, I see first-hand the impacts of air pollution, and specifically particle pollution from wildfires, on my patients,” said Cedric "Jamie" Rutland, M.D., national volunteer medical spokesperson for the American Lung Association. “In addition, communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air. The report found that people of color were 61% more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade for at least one pollutant, and 3.6 times as likely to live in a county with a failing grade for all three pollutants, which means more asthma that can be life-threatening in children and adults.”

The report continues to show long-term improvement in the nation’s air quality thanks to decades of work to reduce emissions. However, this has been partially offset by the negative impacts of hotter, drier conditions caused by climate change. Wildfires in the western U.S. were responsible for a sharp rise in particle pollution spikes in several states. Overall, the report finds that 2.1 million more Americans live in counties with unhealthy air than in last year’s report, and exposure to deadly particle pollution has worsened. And people of color are also more likely to be living with one or more chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to the health impact of air pollution, including asthma, diabetes, and heart disease.

For the first time, the 2022 “State of the Air” report lists pregnant people as a population at high risk for health impacts from air pollution. More than 1.5 million pregnancies were recorded in 2020 in counties that received at least one F for particle pollution. Of those, 210,000 were in counties that received failing grades for all three measures. Adverse impacts from air pollution have been shown both for those who are pregnant as well as for the developing fetus. Exposure to both ozone and particle pollution during pregnancy is strongly associated with premature birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth. These risks are amplified in pregnancies where the mother is already at higher risk, such as in people of color and those with chronic conditions, especially asthma.

The addition of 2020 data to the 2022 “State of the Air” report gives a first look at air quality trends during the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of the shutdowns in early 2020, there was no obvious improvement. It found more days with “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality than ever before in the two-decade history of this report.

The American Lung Association calls on the Biden administration to strengthen the national limits on short-term and year-round particulate matter air pollution. Stronger standards will educate the public about air pollution levels that threaten their health and drive the cleanup of polluting sources in communities across the country. The full report covers 2018-2020 and is available at Lung.org/SOTA.

The American Lung Association is the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through education, advocacy and research. The work of the Ameri-can Lung Association is focused on four strategic imperatives: to defeat lung cancer; to champion clean air for all; to improve the quality of life for those with lung disease and their families; and to create a tobacco-free future. For more information about the American Lung Association, a holder of the coveted 4-star rating from Charity Navigator and a Gold-Level GuideStar Member, or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNGUSA (1-800-586-4872) or visit Lung.org.

NEW ORLEANS (4/25/22) - To bridge the gap between high-paying jobs and expensive education, Rooted School has implemented the Green Balloon Fellowship, a job placement and coaching program, for underserved youth.

This program is aimed at leading young people to career readiness and a debt free future. Students spend half of the school day in general education classes while the other half involves projects where students work on high-technical skills. These skills include practicing with 3-D printer devices, digital media, coding, designing robots, and learning how applications are built.

One of Rooted School’s main goals is for young adults to graduate with industry credentials that could lead to entry-level employment at companies such as Gameloft and Tesla. Teachers want to see their students graduate with a college acceptance letter in one hand and a job offer in the other.

The school’s inaugural class consisted of 38 students. Most who chose to pursue a higher education received ample scholarships to colleges including Tulane University, Villanova University, and Case Western Reserve University.

"The tech courses and certification opportunities benefited me greatly by allowing me to get the knowledge and skillset needed without needing to go to college after high school,” said anonymous source, Rooted School alumni. “It gave me a head start with work since I am younger than most people who have the same skill set.”

Those who wanted to enter straight into the workforce received jobs with a minimum pay of $32,000 a year. Seven graduating seniors participated in the school’s Green Balloon Fellowship, which connected them to jobs with pioneering companies in their local regions.

“Growing up I never had any extra money to spend or save. Through this fellowship, I was hired at Ochsner Health System’s internal services team,” said Jzayla Sussman, Rooted School alumni. “My steady paycheck has helped me to save money for college and a house.”

This program is open to both Rooted School and non-Rooted School graduates. Over 2021, the Green Balloon Fellows worked at companies like Lucid Technologies Inc., Ochsner Health, Square Button, Revelry, Skilltype, Scale Workspace, and Entergy.

Rooted School is widely recognized as one of the most innovative public school models in the U.S. Its vision is to rapidly close America’s inequality gap by providing its high school graduates with a college acceptance in one hand, and a job in the other.

Rooted Schools are in New Orleans, Indianapolis, Vancouver, Washington and proposed in Clark County, Nevada. Graduates attend colleges such as Tulane University, Villanova University, and Case Western Reserve University and work at Fortune 500 companies including Entergy, Ochsner Health and Lucid Technologies Inc.

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