The Office of Environmental Management & Services recently provided its annual accounting to the University of Pennsylvania of how this past year’s installment of its 10-year, $100 million grant was used to help support healthier learning spaces across the District through the management of environmental conditions, particularly lead and asbestos. The report noted that nearly…
The School District has reached an important milestone in its asbestos management program: as of July, all District schools have undergone the extensive asbestos inspections required under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) in this three-year cycle. AHERA includes two types of inspections – 3-year inspections, which are done at 294 facilities throughout the…
The Office of Environmental Management & Services is taking on a project to proactively remove asbestos pipe wrap from several District school gymnasiums this summer. Gymnasiums are high-activity areas where the temptation to loft a ball to the rafters is ever-present. Removing the undamaged asbestos pipe wrap overhead and replacing it with fiberglass and PVC…
The School District of Philadelphia is working to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives within the District’s successful sustainability program, GreenFutures. ESG is a set of criteria that are utilized to assess an organization’s business practices and performance based on sustainability initiatives. School districts tend to have a large carbon footprint and are big…
The School District of Philadelphia has appointed environmental professional Victoria Flemming as Interim Executive Director of the Office of Environmental Management & Services, a new position that will add oversight and expertise to the District’s ongoing efforts to assess and improve conditions in its buildings. Flemming brings 20 years of environmental and regulatory expertise in…
For the last year, GreenFutures, the District’s sustainability program, has been working closely with teams from Capital, Curriculum and Instruction, Fairmount Water Works (FWW), and Interpret Green to develop a schoolyard sensor project called the Sense.Able Schoolyards Initiative. GreenFutures recently received funding through an FWW Grant from Spark Therapeutics to develop an integrated teaching and…
The Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) is beginning its third year of meetings to help keep community advocates and stakeholders informed about the District’s plans and progress on environmental work. The Council meets with the Office of Environmental Management & Services quarterly. It engages with representatives from across the city – parents, community members, union representatives,…
The School District of Philadelphia has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the City’s new environmental “best practices” law. Board of Education President Reginald L. Streater, Esq., explained in a statement that the District took this extraordinary step because the new law could threaten the opening of many District buildings at the start of the next…
The Office of Environmental Management and Services welcomes two new AHERA Management Planners and two Environmental Field Auditors to the TEAM. Lauren Pickett and Catherine Curia have joined the District as AHERA Management Planners. They play a critical role in helping the District document its mandated asbestos management for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In…
The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded nearly $5 million to the District to support our efforts to provide equitable, abundant access to chilled, filtered drinking water by installing more hydration stations in our schools and buildings. The $4,999,658 grant announced Oct. 11 will cover the purchase and installation of 755 new filtered hydration stations. The…