Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay.
School indoor air quality for K-12 students has been an under-appreciated issue in US schools that was illuminated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents of any given state are unaware of how under-ventilated their classrooms are, and studies performed elsewhere may miss the mark by seeming too abstract and distant to local parents. There is no literature in Alabama specifically to tie under-ventilation, illness, and absenteeism together. In the past, chronic absenteeism for K-12 students was consistently couched as an opaque problem with no mention of the role of illness. However, there have been related studies elsewhere that suggest that schools can expect to address a significant proportion of absenteeism by reducing the spread of illness in classrooms. Thus, this project aims to establish community lending programs for indoor air quality monitors in Alabama by collaborating with a library system. We envision that the outcomes of this project push the parents and teachers to demand diligence regarding school air quality.
Indoor Air Care Advocates (IACA) is a group of concerned parents who have worked extensively in advocating for indoor air quality in Alabama. We currently have 75 members in Alabama. We have also worked with many individuals and organizations within and outside Alabama, including the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama Asthma Coalition, AARP, American Health Care Association (AHCA/NCAL), and Arizona State University.
We have had opportunities to bring this issue up to policymakers by giving presentations to the Madison City and County Schools system and writing letters to the Alabama State Department of Education, Alabama Department of Public Health, and our Members of Congress.
The community would like to establish a community lending program for indoor air quality monitors to parents, guardians, and teachers to equip them with data and evidence and raise awareness for indoor air quality issues. This will be done by procuring indoor air quality monitors, working with local libraries to create kiosks, lending kits, and raising awareness among parents by organizing presentations and local forums.
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Michael Bailey is a Co-Founder of Indoor Air Care Advocates and a father of three. Using his background as a malware reverse engineer, he adopts a “research Dad” method, simplifying complex data to engage stakeholders. Additionally, Michael serves on the Pew Charitable Trusts advisory committee, focusing on improving indoor air quality in US K-12 schools.
Tara Bailey is a devoted mother of three and passionate advocate focused on enhancing indoor air quality in K-12 schools as a Co-Founder of Indoor Air Care Advocates. She also works to promote government transparency and civic engagement initiatives, striving for healthier educational environments and empowered communities.
Jennifer Yarbrough is a Co-Founder of Indoor Air Care Advocates and a passionate advocate for clean air in schools and public spaces. She is a loving mother of three with a background in advertising, marketing, and academic administration support. Dedicated to elevating indoor air quality standards in US K-12 schools, she applies her expertise in marketing to drive impactful change and healthier learning environments nationwide.
Dr. Colleen Rosales is a Thriving Earth Exchange Community Fellow and serves as the Project Manager for this project. She has a background in indoor and atmospheric air pollution research and is the Strategic Partnerships Director for the nonprofit organization OpenAQ, which fights air inequality by providing universal and open access to air quality data worldwide.
Dr. Azin Eftekhari, our volunteer scientist for this project, holds degrees in Chemical and Environmental Engineering and has over 10 years of experience in indoor air pollution, atmospheric pollution, and exposure to environmental pollutants. During her postdoc at the Georgia Institute of Technology (2022-2023), she worked on a similar project utilizing low-cost sensors in a public school near Atlanta, GA. She is currently a Research Collaborator at the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and a Process Safety Engineer at Victaulic Company.
