Women for a Healthy Environment (WHE)’s Healthy Schools PA program is designed to empower parents, students, educators, staff and administrators to take an active role in creating healthy school environments.

By providing tools, guides, and other resources, Healthy Schools PA acts as a bridge between communities and their schools, effectively creating an advocacy network capable of bringing about social and policy change throughout the school system.

Close to 2 million students are currently enrolled in public schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In addition to students, thousands of teachers and staff members spend about 9,000 hours a year in school buildings and on school grounds.

There, they are exposed to environmental hazards including, but not limited to:

  • Poor air quality
  • Toxic building materials
  • Pesticides

 

These health risks are discussed far too infrequently. Healthy Schools PA works to increase awareness in the school systems about environmental health factors and supports policies that directly correlate to improved health outcomes and academic performance by engaging the school community.

Our Goals

  • Serving as a central voice and hub for information across the region by engaging students, parents, community leader, and school district personnel.
  • Increasing awareness in the school systems about environmental health factors
  • Providing samples of policies that directly correlate to improved health outcomes and academic performance.
  • Developing a platform that connects organizations such as Parent-Teacher Associations, state agencies, and non-government organizations to encourage collaboration.