「英中对照」美国K-12老旧校舍对学生健康构成风险

Experts at a summit highlighted how aging infrastructure, inadequate funding, poor indoor air quality and extreme weather threaten student health and school operations.峰会上的专家强调，基础设施老化、资金不足、室内空气质量不佳和极端天气正如何威胁学生健康与学校运营。

Key Takeaways:核心要点：

• Aging K-12 infrastructure, outdated HVAC and plumbing systems, and a $90 billion facility funding shortfall create persistent challenges for maintaining healthy school environments.K-12基础设施老化、HVAC与管道系统过时，以及$90 billion的设施资金缺口，为维护健康学校环境带来了持续挑战。
• Poor ventilation, moisture issues, chemical exposures and other indoor environmental hazards can contribute to asthma, respiratory problems and reduced student concentration.通风不良、潮湿问题、化学品接触及其他室内环境危害，可能导致哮喘和呼吸系统问题，并降低学生注意力。
• Extreme weather and longstanding funding inequities disproportionately affect schools and communities, underscoring the need for coordinated investment in facility upgrades and preventive maintenance.极端天气和长期资金不平等对学校和社区造成的影响尤为严重，凸显出协同投资设施升级与预防性维护的必要性。

Is anyone against keeping schoolchildren healthy? Surely not, yet the challenges for maintenance and engineering managers seeking to ensure that K-12 facilities consistently provide healthy environments to students and teachers remain stubbornly persistent.  有谁会反对保障学童健康吗？当然没有。但对于维护和工程经理而言，要确保K-12设施持续为师生提供健康环境，挑战依然顽固存在。 

Five organizations recently came together to co-host the Healthy Schools for Healthy Kids Summit in Washington, D.C., to detail the reasons healthy school facilities are so important, factors that have created barriers to upgrading these buildings and campuses and the way these groups and their allies can work together. The meeting brought together advocates, elected officials, health experts, facility managers, academics, students and others to address these issues.   近期有五个组织在华盛顿特区联合主办了Healthy Schools for Healthy Kids峰会，详细说明健康学校设施为何如此重要、阻碍这些建筑和校园升级的因素，以及这些组织及其盟友可以如何协作。会议汇集了倡导者、民选官员、健康专家、设施经理、学者、学生及其他人士，共同探讨这些问题。  

“Can you make a better investment in society than in our schools?” asked Jason Hartke, executive vice president for external affairs and global advocacy for International WELL Building Institute, during his remarks. “还有什么比投资我们的学校更好的社会投资吗？”International WELL Building Institute外部事务与全球倡导执行副总裁Jason Hartke在发言中问道。 

Children typically spend 5-7 hours per day in classrooms, making schools’ impact on kids profound. While many people might recall the way a good or bad teacher directly affected their lives, do they remember the indoor air quality in their schools? They also can have a lifelong imprint.   儿童通常每天在教室度过5-7小时，因此学校对孩子的影响深远。很多人或许会记得一位好老师或差老师如何直接影响了他们的人生，但他们记得学校里的室内空气质量吗？它们也可能留下终生印记。  

Healthy schools challenges  健康学校面临的挑战  

While school facilities should be safe havens for students, they too often represent minefields. The potential hazards are many, particularly with the average age of school buildings approaching 50 years old and one-half of school districts nationwide needing to update or replace multiple systems, including HVAC and plumbing. 学校设施本应是学生的安全港湾，却往往暗藏雷区。潜在危害众多，尤其是校舍平均楼龄已接近50年，全国一半学区需要更新或更换包括HVAC和管道在内的多个系统。 

Despite these challenges, the funding gap for school facility improvements continues to widen. The 2025 State of Our Schools report estimated that school districts nationwide face a $90 billion shortfall in facility funding.   尽管面临这些挑战，学校设施改善的资金缺口仍在持续扩大。《2025 State of Our Schools报告》估计，全国各学区面临$90 billion的设施资金缺口。  

Dilapidated, outdated school facilities are an embarrassment and represent genuine threats to student and teacher health and safety. These threats can include exposures to toxic substances from lead and asbestos to pesticides and harsh cleaning chemicals. Moisture management issues also can create health issues, including asthma triggers, while poor ventilation and gaps in cleaning, operations and maintenance can exacerbate all these problems. 破旧过时的学校设施不仅令人难堪，也对师生的健康与安全构成切实威胁。这些威胁可能包括接触从铅、石棉到杀虫剂和刺激性清洁化学品等有毒物质。湿气管理问题也可能造成健康问题，包括诱发哮喘；而通风不良以及清洁、运营和维护方面的不足会加剧所有这些问题。 

Asthma is a major focus. Kenneth Mendez, president and CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America says one in 12 American children have asthma, with 50 percent of those children having missed school days, with higher percentages reported among black and Latino children. Asthma triggers in the school environment can include mold, dust, chemicals and school bus exhaust. 哮喘是一个主要关注重点。Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America总裁兼首席执行官Kenneth Mendez表示，每12名美国儿童中就有1名患有哮喘，其中50%的儿童曾缺课，黑人和拉丁裔儿童中报告的比例更高。学校环境中的哮喘诱因可能包括霉菌、灰尘、化学品和校车尾气。 

Erika Eitland, director of Human Experience Research at the architecture firm Perkins & Will, says “the policy mismatch” that “many of the buildings that our kids are in, our teachers are in, predate major environmental legislation,” such as laws prohibiting lead paint and asbestos. Even though these substances have been generally banned from building products starting in the 1970s, many school facilities have not yet fully removed them.  建筑设计公司Perkins &Will的人类体验研究总监Erika Eitland表示，存在“政策错配”：“我们的孩子和教师所在的许多建筑，其建造时间早于重大环境立法”，例如禁止铅涂料和石棉的法律。尽管自20世纪70年代起这些物质已普遍被禁止用于建筑产品，但许多学校设施仍未将其彻底清除。 

In facilities as complex as K-12 schools, many additional hazards can crop up. Dr. Robert Amler, vice president for government affairs at New York Medical College, offered the example of a school installing an off-gassing polyurethane floor in a gymnasium without adequate ventilation in a place where children spend the day hyperventilating.  在K-12学校这样复杂的设施中，还可能突然出现许多其他危害。纽约医学院政府事务副校长Robert Amler博士举例说，某学校在体育馆安装会释放废气的聚氨酯地板，而该场馆通风不足，孩子们一整天都在那里剧烈呼吸。 

“There is one good ingredient to go in a lung, and that’s air,” Amler says. “Nothing else.” “能进入肺部的好东西只有一种，那就是空气，”Amler说，“别无其他。” 

Climatological changes, including increasing temperatures, wildfires, floods and hurricanes, multiply the threats to schools. Joel Scheraga, senior advisor for the Healthy Schools Network, says, “In the 2024-2025 school year, nearly 10,000 schools, approximately 10 percent of all public schools, were forced to temporarily close because of weather-related events. That translated into over 9 million students affected.” 气温升高、野火、洪水和飓风等气候变化，使学校面临的威胁成倍增加。健康学校网络高级顾问Joel Scheraga表示：“在2024—2025学年，近1万所学校，约占全部公立学校的10%，因天气相关事件被迫临时关闭。这导致超过900万名学生受到影响。” 

The impact of school closures affects mental health, as well as physical health.  学校关闭的影响既涉及身体健康，也涉及心理健康。 

“A school building is also a city center, a community center,” says Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, executive director of the Children's Environmental Health Network. “It’s used for many different functions beyond the learning. The symbolism of it being hurt, gone, washed away, is very traumatic.” “学校建筑也是城市中心、社区中心，”儿童环境卫生网络执行主任Nsedu Obot Witherspoon说，“除学习之外，它还用于许多不同功能。它受损、消失或被冲走，这种象征意义会造成极大创伤。” 

Dr. Taylor Brewer, pediatric resident at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., offered the example of parents wanting to get their kids checked for ADHD. After investigating, she found the children were forced to study in schools without air conditioning. And on the hottest days, they simply couldn’t concentrate.   华盛顿特区Children's National Hospital儿科住院医师Taylor Brewer博士举例称，一些家长想让孩子检查ADHD。经过调查，她发现孩子们被迫在没有空调的学校学习；在最热的日子里，他们根本无法集中注意力。  

“Children are not small adults,” Amler said. “Their exposures are very different because their bodies are not only smaller, but they absorb faster.”  “儿童不是小号成人，”Amler说，“他们的暴露情况非常不同，因为他们的身体不仅更小，而且吸收更快。” 

The impact of unhealthy schools is very unevenly distributed, reflecting deep-seated patterns of social inequity. Jenna Riemenschneider, vice president of advocacy and policy at the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America,cited research showing a $23 billion gap in the funding between majority white schools and majority black schools.  不健康学校的影响分布极不均衡，反映出根深蒂固的社会不平等模式。美国哮喘与过敏基金会倡导与政策副总裁Jenna Riemenschneider引用研究表明，白人学生占多数的学校与黑人学生占多数的学校之间存在230亿美元的资金差距。 

“We cannot here in 2026 say every child that goes to a school building in the United States will be safe and healthy,” Witherspoon says.“在2026年的今天，我们不能说美国每一个走进学校建筑的孩子都会安全和健康，”Witherspoon说。

Ken Sandler, Ph.D., is a clean energy and sustainability analyst and thought leader who spent 35 years advancing green building and sustainability policies and programs across the federal government. In addition to being a FacilitiesNet sustainability columnist and Facility Influencer, he writes his own newsletter, Regenerative Futures at LinkedIn and Substack.Ken Sandler博士是清洁能源与可持续发展分析师和思想领袖，曾在联邦政府花费35年时间推动绿色建筑及可持续发展政策与项目。除了担任FacilitiesNet可持续发展专栏作家和Facility Influencer，他还在LinkedIn和Substack撰写自己的通讯Regenerative Futures。

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