Res. No. 1426

Resolution calling on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to establish indoor air quality standards and measure indoor air quality in New York City schools.

By Council Members Cornegy, Kallos, Chin, Rosenthal and Cabrera

Whereas, The United States Environmental Protection Agency has found that indoor air quality impacts student health and performance; and

Whereas, The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that poor indoor air quality can cause poor health and increase absenteeism while improvements in school environmental air quality can enhance students’ academic performance, as well as teacher and staff productivity and retention; and

Whereas, The Environmental Protection Agency has evidence from multiple studies that children who are exposed to increased outdoor air ventilation perform school work at greater speeds and tend to achieve higher scores on standardized tests in math and reading than children in poorly ventilated classrooms; and

Whereas, The research cited by the Environmental Protection Agency attributes reduced transmission and spread of infectious agents in buildings to higher ventilation rates in those buildings; and

Whereas, The data shows that occupants of buildings with low ventilation rates and high occupant densities experienced far higher rates of respiratory illness than did occupants of similar buildings with higher ventilation rates; and

Whereas, Asthma is a common respiratory disease in which the lungs become swollen, making breathing difficult; and

Whereas, According to research from the International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate and the publication “Indoor Air,” poor indoor air quality can worsen asthma symptoms and may also be a factor in the development of asthma in those who are more susceptible, like small children; and

Whereas, The New York City public school system educates over 1,100,000 students who attend more than 1,800 schools, including over 400 high schools; and

Whereas, According to the New York City Environment and Health Data Portal, asthma is a leading cause of emergency room visits, hospitalizations and missed school days in the City’s poorest neighborhoods and disproportionately affects low-income Black and Latino children; and

Whereas, Nearly 70,000 public school children aged five to 14 years old have a diagnosis of asthma that has been reported to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; and

Whereas, There are no standards in place to determine the indoor air quality in New York City schools; and

Whereas, There is no mechanism in place to measure indoor air quality in New York City schools; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to establish indoor air quality standards and measure indoor air quality in New York City schools.

JG

LS #13492

04/01/20 12:22 PM