The First National Standard for Healthy and Sustainable School Facilities Management
Healthy Schools Campaign and Green Seal® have developed a pilot Healthy Green Schools & Colleges standard for facility management practices for K-12 school districts and higher education institutions. The standard is available now for any school district, college or university to use to improve indoor air quality and sustainability in its facilities.
About the Standard
To support facility management professionals operating with budget limitations, the Healthy Green Schools & Colleges standard prioritizes measures that can make a big impact without major capital investments. The standard was designed in partnership with the award-winning school facility directors on our Steering Committee, who know firsthand what support facility professionals need. The draft, science-based standard has a points-based scoring system and covers the full range of facilities management practices, including:
- Cleaning, Sanitizing and Disinfecting
- Integrated Pest Management
- Sustainable Purchasing
- HVAC and Electric Maintenance
- Indoor Air Quality Testing and Monitoring
- Sidewalk and Pavement
- Training and Communications
The third comment period for the Healthy Green Schools & Colleges Standard closed on August 30, 2022.The revised standard, development documents, and standard snapshot can be found below.
Why a School Facilities Standard?
The pandemic has made creating healthy school environments an urgent national priority and brought to light the serious under-investment in school facilities nationwide. But the fact is, even before the pandemic, nearly half of U.S. schools reported indoor air quality problems that put the health of students and staff at risk. Unhealthy indoor air, inadequate ventilation, and chemical exposure from cleaning and maintenance routines continue to present systemic challenges in school districts.
Standard Development Process
The Healthy Green Schools & Colleges standard is being developed through extensive stakeholder engagement that includes school facility directors, indoor air quality experts, technical experts and other practitioners. The process leverages HSC’s extensive experience working with school facility directors and Green Seal’s globally recognized credibility in science-based standard development.
