National Healthy Schools Heroes Announced

ALBANY, N.Y. - April 29, 2013 - PRLog -- For Release April 30th

Network Names Three National Healthy Schools Heroes

National Healthy Schools Day 2013  

(Albany, NY, April 30, 2013)          Healthy Schools Network today released the names of its Spring 2013 National Healthy Schools Heroes on the 11th Annual National Healthy Schools Day, honoring three individuals whose leadership achievements protect children and other school occupants from chemical and other hazardous exposures and promote healthy indoor environments. The three and excerpts from their citations are:

    John McKinney, Connecticut State Senator:         During more than a decade of leadership in Connecticut he has demonstrated a strong commitment to ensuring that every Connecticut child receives a quality education and he understands this is not possible without healthy indoor air quality in our schools. McKinney commissioned an important study of Connecticut schools then has championed and won key legislative reforms over many years.

    Bill Walsh, Founder and Executive Director, Healthy Building Network:       For more than 13 years he has led cutting edge research, tool development, technical assistance, and advocacy to advance healthier and safer building materials, focused on eliminating bio-accumulative toxics, and a whole life-cycle approach that prevents harm to the planet and to people. Campaigns include arsenic-treated wood, Polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC). He also led development of The Pharos Project, a tool for evaluating building materials.

    Arthur B. Weissman, PhD, President and CEO, Green Seal, Inc.:        For over thirty years he has been an active force in the greening of the marketplace. As President and CEO of Green Seal since 1996, he has led the non-profit organization’s resurgence as a key driver for making the economy more sustainable. Recently Green Seal established a schools web portal to make it easier for schools to locate certified green products.

Previous Heroes have included: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Charles Eley (Collaborative for High Performance Schools), New York State Education Department, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Joellen Lawson (CT Foundation for Environmentally Safe Schools), Tolle Graham (MA Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health), Carolyn Smith Evans and Chip Halverson (NEA Healthy Schools Caucus), Jennie Young (NEA Health Information Network), Bob Axelrad (US EPA), Ken Olden (former director, NIEHS), and Richard Iannuzzi (New York State United Teachers).  Healthy Schools Network is a not for profit award winning organization that does research, technical assistance and advocacy, and the nation’s leading voice for children’s environmental health at school.

The Healthy Schools Heroes awards ceremony will be held in Washington, DC later this spring. For more information, please see the individual citations at  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-jj-Uqv_J65X1VLRWdneDZRXzg/edit?usp=sharing   or call Healthy Schools Network.