On the inside, it’s a different story entirely. Extensive wear and tear bear witness to the building’s age and many years of service. The dimly lit halls are dark and uninviting; chipped and faded floor tiles are the current standard. On the school’s top floor, trash cans are strategically placed to catch the water when it rains.

And then there are the unseen problems—the ancient heating system that always seems to break down on the coldest days, poor air circulation that has been blamed for the respiratory problems of some students and staff, and an outdated electrical infrastructure that blows a fuse when more than a handful of computers are turned on at the same time.

Sound familiar? Sadly, some or all of these conditions are commonplace in many U.S. schools, where a combination of neglect and inadequate funding have turned buildings into places unsuitable for learning and, in some cases, unfit for habitation. Our failure to do something about these conditions sends a cynical message of indifference to students and educators alike, and it calls into question our commitment as a nation to helping every child reach his or her potential.

“This is a health issue, a safety issue and an education issue,” says AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese. “In the world’s richest nation, every child is entitled to learn in clean, well-maintained classrooms. As we try to build young minds, we also have to mind school buildings.”

In December, the AFT launched a major initiative both to draw attention to the problem and to identify solutions. The groundwork for the campaign, “Building Minds, Minding Buildings: Turning Crumbling Schools into Environments for Learning,” was laid by more than 1,000 AFT members who responded to a union survey on the physical status of their schools. 

An AFT report by the same name focuses on the problem of inadequate, unhealthy and unsafe conditions in public schools; the consequences of these conditions on student learning, staff retention and the health of both groups; the elements of well-designed, well-built, well-maintained schools; and recommendations for action at all levels to improve school buildings.

“The AFT has long championed higher standards and greater accountability. We believe that these principles must be reflected not only in high-quality teaching and a challenging curriculum, but also in the planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of our nation’s schools,” the report says. “We continue to believe that the school environment cannot be separated from the academic agenda.”

Unacceptable conditions
Member responses to the AFT survey revealed some startling—and deplorable—building conditions, from students who have to wear coats and gloves in class to rats and mice entering classrooms through windows and cracks in the walls. All too often, the backdrop to these horrors is extreme overcrowding.

It’s a problem that touches nearly every U.S. school system—not just in urban centers where school buildings tend to be older. Some of our newer schools are so poorly planned and constructed that they too pose significant health and safety—and learning—challenges.

Comments from AFT members who responded to the survey shed light on how these problems affect the attitudes and performance of students and staff. “Mold is all over the school,” a library assistant from Tulsa, Okla., reports. “The mold affects people’s health, their allergies and asthma. I have had asthma for a number of years, but it is much worse now.”

Excessive heat and cold are almost commonplace. “I have worn two pairs of pants and three shirts just to be warm,” says a Kansas City paraprofessional. “At the beginning and ending of the year, the heat is almost unbearable. Students can’t learn when they are excessively hot or cold.”

Then there’s the sickening report from an Oklahoma City special education paraprofessional, who describes having to dig a dead roach out of a student’s mouth. The roach infestation was just one of many problems she noted.

The AFT report says that an increase in cases of asthma may be linked to poor air quality, student concentration may be affected by temperature extremes, and student and staff absenteeism may be due to an unhealthy building environment.

Savannah (Ga.) Federation of Teachers president Alfreda Goldwire says she regularly gets complaints from members about the mold in their classrooms and schools. “Our buildings are old, but that’s no excuse for the fact that the district needs to go in and clean or replace air ducts,” she says, noting that she has brought the problem to the attention of the district superintendent and school board members. The high absenteeism of students and staff has sounded an alarm with top school officials, Goldwire explains. “It’s beginning to sink in that we do have a serious problem here.”

Meeting the challenge
If there is any good news, it’s that some states and school districts are stepping up to the challenge—often with union involvement. In addition, the new Congress is expected to consider legislation that would provide funding to modernize old schools and build new ones (see sidebar on page 5).

In Newark, N.Y., the union played an active role when the district undertook a $50 million building project. Union members sat on a districtwide planning committee, and the AFT affiliate there monitored the building process to ensure that ventilation standards and other health and safety codes were adhered to.

And when severe overcrowding at the city high school in Bozeman, Mont., forced the local school board to seek a $55 million bond, it asked Bozeman Education Association president Marco Ferro to co-chair a facilities task force. The school district had previously failed to gain support from school employees and the community for a $17 million bond. After the task force recommended remodeling the existing high school and building a new middle school, Ferro and other members of the AFT affiliate served on a committee set up to promote the bond issue. The bond issue passed. Staff now are fully involved in the design of the remodeled high school and the new middle school, Ferro says.

High staff turnover
Unsafe and unhealthy school conditions are also a reason why teachers and other staff are leaving their schools—or the profession. More than 40 percent of teachers in Washington, D.C., and Chicago who gave their school facilities a grade of C or below in a 2002 national survey said that poor conditions had made them consider changing schools; and 30 percent were thinking about leaving teaching. No similar surveys of PSRPs have been conducted, but it’s not a stretch to conclude that poor conditions contribute to turnover levels that are already alarmingly high.

Appalling physical conditions in U.S. schools leave in place a terrible pattern of inequity--—a facilities gap—in which low-income and minority children are disproportionately affected, the “Building Minds, Minding Buildings” report points out.

“If this nation is committed to high academic standards,” it concludes, “we must stop ignoring the impact that the physical environment plays in students’ health and learning.”

The report and more information on the AFT initiative are available at www.aft.org/topics/building-conditions/index.htm.