Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/27719
there are days in her classroom when she isn’t sure whether she should reach for her inhaler or head for the emergency room. When an asthma attack happens to her — or her students — it can result in missed school days, fatigue and poor morale. Driver offered her perspective about CTA promotes asthma education M elanie Driver is president of the Fair- field-Suisun Teachers Association. She is also asthmatic and admits asthma health risks posed by environmen- tal triggers in schools at the state Capitol on Feb. 28 in a policy briefing titled “The Burden of Asthma on California’s Schools.” Sponsored by CTA’s Teachers for Healthy Kids: Healthy Air, Healthy Kids project, the event is part of a continuing effort to raise awareness about what teachers and schools can do to prevent asthma and asthma trig- gers and maintain indoor air quality in schools. Also in attendance were members of the California School Boards Associa- tion, the California School Employees Association, the Regional Asthma Man- agement and Prevention Program, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Asthma is a chronic, lifelong respiratory BELOW: F-SUTA President Melanie Driver and CTA Board member Don Bridge confer during a policy briefing about asthma in California schools. disease that causes breathing problems due to inflammation of the airways in the lungs. Symptoms include coughing, wheez- ing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. One out of six children in Cali- fornia under the age of 18 has been diag- nosed with asthma, which is the number one cause of student absences due to chronic disease. Students with asthma not only miss school, but also miss out on so- cial interaction with other children and may experience trouble with concentrating due to medication. There is no cure, but it can be managed and controlled by mini- mizing asthma “triggers” in the classroom — reducing dust mites, improving ventila- tion, using “green” or nontoxic cleaning products, eliminating scented products, and eliminating moisture and mold. Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District demolished Crescent Elementary School in Suisun in 2003 due to black mold contamina- tion, which has been linked to asthma. Driver decided to become involved in changing things districtwide when her classroom at Wilson Elementary School developed a leak and students began adversely reacting to the mold that resulted. In her testimony to the panel, Driver described how a district effort supported by CTA’s Healthy Air, Healthy Kids project changed things for the better. 26 California Educator | MARCH 2011 CTA photo by Len Feldman