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| Cenotaph - Memorial to the victims of the 1937 Texas School Explosion |
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Call for Healthy Schools Heroes 2009
Send your nominee's name, contact
information, and accomplishments to
healthykids@rcn.com
by February 15, 2009.
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Do you know someone whose sense of responsibility, inspirational leadership, and exemplary persistence and courage protects children from school hazards and unhealthy school conditions?
I created the Healthy Kids Healthy Schools Hero Award as an annual opportunity to remember the 1937 New London Texas School Explosion (http://www.NLSE.org) and to study its lessons.
The story of the 1937 Texas School Explosion needs to be part of our
national legacy because today, more than 72 years later, the decision-making that led to the 1937 explosion is the same type of
decision-making that leaves dangerous old explosives and other hazards
in today’s classrooms, labs, closets and storerooms. Too many other safety code violations are routinely
ignored.
By nominating a Healthy Kids Healthy Schools Hero you can help make March 18 an annual Healthy Schools Heroes Day
dedicated to bringing the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to
our nation's schools and celebrating the heroes
whose leadership saves lives. Their stories can inspire individuals
and groups to strengthen parent involvement and community partnerships
to make chemical safety and other urgent health and safety decisions a
high priority in every school.
The Healthy Schools Hero Award
winner will be announced in March, 2009. You can join with education,
environment, health and safety organizations and networks to celebrate
your local Healthy School Hero on March 18, on National Healthy Schools
Day 2009 (April 27, 2009), and at special events that promote child health and safety throughout the year.
The Heroes Award is part of an ongoing campaign to promote citizen awareness and responsible leadership to protect children from hazards in schools. See What You Can Do. Resources and more links are online at Lessons Of The 1937 Texas School Explosion Campaign Blog: http://journal.rcn.net/sentinellions
Lessons of History
In 1937, the explosion killed over 300 people, mostly children, but no one was held responsible because the Court of Inquiry concluded that "school officials were just average individuals, ignorant or indifferent to the need for precautionary measures, where they cannot, in their lack of knowledge, visualize a danger or a hazard." (Court of Inquiry, 1937.)
The disaster resulted in a law requiring that a warning odor be added to natural gas, thus saving millions of lives all over the world.
However, other important recommendations of the 1937 Court of Inquiry have yet to be implemented in most 21st century schools: 1) schools need technically trained administrators for modern school systems, 2) schools need to do rigid inspections and more widespread public education about avoiding and managing hazards, and 3) schools need a comprehensive, rational safety code.
For school activities and resources and to help promote March 18 as National Healthy Schools Heroes Day go to What Can You Do. Let me know how it goes. Contact me: healthykids@rcn.com.
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Promote 21st Century Skills
Make 2009 a time to update your school's values and technical skills for 21st century citizens. Let's
move safety from the margins of school activity to the core of school
culture and curriculum.
Look for opportunities to promote safety in
science, language arts, history, labs, vocational education, occupational health and
safety, community service, school health and injury
prevention, school security, emergency preparedness, environmental
education, civic education, school maintenance and operations.
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See: "Time to Heal," Glenn Cook, American School Board Journal, April 2008, volume 195, no. 04, pages 44-47.
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Help make chemical safety part of your school's curriculum and part of ongoing maintenance, operations, security audits and safety plan.
1) Talk with parents, educators and community leaders about making safety part of school culture. Ask: Is there a chemical inventory? Is there a chemical hygiene plan? Is there a chemical hygiene officer?
2) Create a universal zero tolerance policy for explosives in schools.
3)
Promote a sense of shared responsibility and accountability for
student, employee and visitor health and safety in all school areas and
activities.
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