Asthma Friendly Policies

This Environmental Stewardship Guide is published to provide the CMS community information and insights on the CMS environmental footprint.  It includes examples of the district's environmental performance and offers examples of the efforts you can make to foster stewardship action in your own activities at home, school, and work.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education formalized the CMS commitment to environmental stewardship in Board Policy ECF, "Environmental Stewardship" (p. 2).  The Superintendent has furthered this commitment by including environmental stewardship in the internationally recognized ISO 14001 standard and is tailored to have environmental stewardship integrated into the everyday business of the district (p. 4). 

Environmental Stewardship requires the wide-ranging engagement of staff, students and the community.  The district's goals to reduce utility consumption and pollution by 20%, and solid waste by 5% by June 2014 are possible through your input, participation and leadership.  The snapshot below illustrates the magnitude of the district's environmental footprint.  

Managing Asthma in the School Environment focuses on steps that schools can take to help children breathe easier. Students with uncontrolled asthma often miss more school and have poorer academic performance than healthy students. With the help of strong school management programs, students with asthma can have equally good school attendance. When asthma is well controlled, students are ready to learn. Because children spend most of their time in schools, day care facilities, or at home, it is important to reduce their exposure to environmental asthma triggers as much as possible in each of these environments.

The guide offers valuable information for all school staff, especially school nurses, teachers, and maintenance staff, on how to establish and evaluate an indoor air quality management program, develop an asthma management plan, and reduce environmental asthma triggers.

School health policies and programs provide the framework for a safe and supportive environment for students with asthma. School Health Policies and Programs Study 2006 data were examined to assess whether schools nationwide have policies and programs consistent with the "How Asthma-Friendly Is Your School?" checklist from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program. Adherence to some of the recommendations on the checklist was high. For example, 80% or more of schools allowed students to carry and self-administer asthma medications, and obtained and kept asthma action plans. For other recommendations, however, far fewer schools had the recommended polices or programs; most notably, less than one third of schools had a full-time Registered Nurse. Improvements in many school policies and programs are needed so that students have a safe and supportive school environment to help them control their asthma while away from home.