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On January 14 and 15, "CNN Presents" aired coverage of Dr. Sanjay Gupta's visit to Southern Middle School in Reading, Pennsylvania. The episode looked at districts in several states, but Reading stood out as a district in dire straits. The video footage from Reading showed mold and mildew, leaking buildings, and rain pouring into a classroom.

The poor indoor environmental quality of this school and many more around the country has a devastating impact on the health and performance of the student and staff who study and work in these buildings every day. Poor indoor environmental quality is linked to asthma, respiratory illness, headaches, and other short and long term health problems. Asthma alone is one of the leading causes of absenteeism in the United States, causing many children to miss school or be tardy each day.

While schools in all communities are in need of some repair, as with many concerns in public education, it is students who live in low-income and minority communities who often suffer the most from unacceptable learning conditions. Southern is no exception here – 92% of students at the school receive free or reduced-price lunch, and 77% are of Hispanic heritage.

By agreeing to have the building filmed the educational leaders of Reading helped to make the point that it should not matter what a student’s background is, or where a student goes to school. Every child deserves a healthy school, and that takes commitment, will, and funding.  It also takes a willingness to work together.

As Reading Education Association president Bryan Sanguanito said in his January 17 blog at www.neahin.org  “As the adults charged with the solemn responsibility of shaping the lives of young people, it is incumbent upon us to redefine success for our students by redefining our relationships with one another.” 

It is the responsibility of the entire community to find ways to work together to create and sustain healthy schools.  Through our contributions to Public School Insights, we want to continue to highlight the many successful school health initiatives that are making a difference for students. 

Editor’s Note: This post is from our partners at the NEA Health Information Network (NEA HIN). Each month, we feature a new column on a topic related to school health. Through this effort, we hope to inform the public of important health issues that impact schools and offer educators and parents resources to address them.

Today's post was authored by Nora Howley.

Image from video of Gupta's visit to Southern Middle School.