July 6, 2005

Dear Director of Facilities,

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) and New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) are working together to learn more about school district practices, programs, and policies related to school indoor air quality.  Enclosed is a survey of School District Facilities Directors that we would like you to complete and return to us.

The information from this survey will help us learn more about what the school districts in New York State are doing regarding indoor air quality, and what Facilities Directors believe are the most effective ways to improve indoor air quality in schools.  This information will then be shared with the school districts.

No school district will be singled out in the results of this survey.  Instead, information from the survey will be kept confidential, and will be grouped together to get an overall picture of school indoor air quality issues in school districts.

Last September, NYSED and NYSDOH distributed this survey to attendees representing NYS school districts at the annual NYS School Building and Grounds Association meeting, September 26-29, 2004.  At that time, 63 District Directors, representing about 9% of districts in New York State, completed the survey.  To obtain a representative sample and to reach as many districts as possible, we are now contacting Facilities Directors who didn’t attend the meeting or weren’t able to complete the survey at that time.

This information can potentially strengthen collaboration between NYSDOH, NYSED, and New York State school districts to help develop appropriate education and intervention programs to improve indoor air quality in the school setting.

A copy of the survey appears on this website for your reference.  This letter and the survey will be mailed to you within the next two weeks.  We would appreciate your completing it and returning it to the NYSDOH address in the envelope provided.  If you do not receive this mailed survey, please feel free to download the survey from this website and return it to the address appearing at the end of the survey form.  This will help in making the survey a success.  Please call Christine Kielb, New York State Department of Health, at (518) 402-7990 if you have any questions or would like assistance in completing the survey.

Sincerely,                                                                                 

Carl T. Thurnau, P.E.                                                    Shao Lin, Ph.D.

Coordinator                                                                   Center for Environmental Health

Office of Facilities Planning                                            New York State Department of Health

New York State Education Department                           Flanigan Square, Room 200

Albany NY  12234                                                         Troy, NY 12180