Gov. Ned Lamont’s recent proposal to allocate $90 million for upgrades to heating, ventilation and cooling systems in Connecticut’s public schools is a necessary response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. What is often overlooked in discussions about indoor air quality, however, is another ongoing health crisis — asthma.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that Connecticut has among the highest childhood asthma rates in the nation. In 2018, nearly one out of every 10 children in Connecticut had asthma. Children with asthma are three times more likely to be chronically absent from school than their peers without asthma.
Moreover, when they are present, children with asthma are less likely to fully participate in school activities because of concerns about asthma triggers. The burden of asthma across Connecticut is not shared equally. In 2021, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranked New Haven the fifth most challenging place in the country to live with asthma. Connecticut’s five largest cities — Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Stamford and Waterbury — have the highest asthma rates in the state, disproportionately burdening Black and Latinx families.
As leaders with Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut, or CONECT, we have advocated over the last several years for greater support for students living with asthma in New Haven. While Gov. Lamont’s proposal is an important step in the right direction, rather than requiring “municipalities to provide matching grants to fund the project costs’’ as proposed, the Legislature should consider a scaled matching program to avoid placing an undue burden on the school districts where asthma prevalence is highest and the municipal tax base may be lower.
An investment in indoor air quality is an investment in children’s futures. It indicates to families that their children — particularly their children with asthma — will be able to breathe safely at school. This reassurance is invaluable. As schools across Connecticut strive to recover learning loss and re-engage students, taking proactive measures to support families burdened by chronic health challenges including asthma is essential to improving attendance and lowering hospitalization rates.
In addition to improving indoor air quality, districts should be supported in pursuing creative solutions to health-based causes of absenteeism. Notably, New Haven Public Schools is taking the lead; in collaboration with Clifford Beers, the district has hired five school community care coordinators. whose responsibility will include empowering and supporting families of students experiencing health impediments to attendance, both mental and physical. This school-community approach will help educate families and students and the resources and practices that reduce health-related barriers to school attendance. Investments in indoor air quality, coupled with long-term investments in programs like this, are critical to achieving safe and supportive learning environments and healthy students.
As the COVID-19 pandemic peaks and subsides — and peaks and subsides, and peaks and subsides — let’s prioritize the students and families who, before, during, and after the pandemic, express serious concerns about indoor air quality and its implications on their ability to breathe and learn. Additionally, many public school buildings across the state are in need of intentional upgrades. We praise Gov. Lamont’s proposal to address air quality in schools and call on the Legislature to do so in an equitable manner to ensure that all our children can breathe, learn and thrive.
Veronica Douglas-Givan is an education advocate and member of CONECT; Charles A. Pillsbury is a professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law; Dr. Beverley Sheares is an associate professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine.
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Originally Appeared Here