Mission
Oakland Berkeley Community Action to Fight Asthma (OB-CAFA) seeks to reduce environmental asthma triggers for school-aged children in Oakland and Berkeley through local and regional policy/systems change.
Working to Improve Indoor Air Quality in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
Building upon the successful passage of Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) comprehensive Wellness Policy, OB-CAFA has made significant strides towards improving indoor air quality (IAQ) in Oakland public schools. The Wellness Policy is based on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) Coordinated School Health Model, and has been a pivotal stepping stone for making IAQ improvements in OUSD. There are six distinct but interrelated areas of the Wellness Policy. These policy areas cover: 1) Nutrition 2) Physical Education and Physical Activity 3) Health Education 4) Safe and Healthy School Environments 5) Student Wellness Services 6) Staff Wellness.
For the past year, OB-CAFA staff has persistently advocated for the implementation of the IAQ components of Wellness Policy, under the area of Safe and Healthy School Environments, through participation in the OUSD Coordinated School Health Council (CSHC). The Council has been active since July 2006, and a broad constituency of parents, teachers, and individuals from community based organizations and public agencies, participate, with the common goal of implementing the OUSD Wellness Policy.
Efforts to simultaneously implement all six areas of the Wellness Policy have been challenging due to limited resources. In January, to help prioritize implementation efforts, Council members were asked to submit proposals and subsequently to vote and select their top Wellness Policy priorities. OB-CAFA submitted a proposal to develop a set of classroom guidelines based on the IAQ language in the OUSD Wellness Policy. The IAQ proposal was accepted as submitted and designated as one of four top Wellness Policy Priorities by the Council.
During the summer of 2007, OUSD went through a district redesign which greatly impacted the work of the CSHC. In an effort to realign the Council’s priorities with the District’s priorities, the CSHC members voted again to choose their top policy priorities/categories of the CDC Coordinated School Health Model. The following policy priorities were chosen: Nutrition Services, Health Education & Counseling, Psychological & Social Services, and Safe & Healthy School Environments. The prioritization of the Safe & Healthy School Environments category, allowed for the continued implementation of the IAQ components of the Wellness Policy.
At the end of the summer, to begin work on the IAQ proposal, OB-CAFA formed an IAQ Implementation Subcommittee. In order to develop the most thorough IAQ guidelines possible, an OUSD teacher, the OUSD Asthma Nurse, and select OB-CAFA Advisory Board members joined the subcommittee. The guidelines that the group developed highlight and expand upon key IAQ portions of the Wellness Policy, with the goal of making the policy language universal and easy to implement in classrooms.
Currently, OB-CAFA is working with the Public Media Center to create a visually enticing poster design for classrooms. In the fall, OB-CAFA plans to begin distributing the IAQ guidelines to all 2500 classrooms within OUSD, and all 500 classrooms in Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD).
In an effort to extend IAQ education beyond the 3000 classrooms, and in keeping with CAFA’s overall goal of reducing the environmental triggers of asthma for school-aged children where they live, learn, and play, OB-CAFA will continue its outreach efforts and share the guidelines with the community at large. |
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