Wellness in the Schools (WITS) is a grassroots organization that promotes children's environmental health, nutrition and fitness within the New York City public schools...
Clean, Green Schools--non-toxic cleaners for NYC's public schools-URGENT!
Did you know that asthma is the number one cause of absenteeism in the NYC public schools, and that many industrial-strength cleaners used in schools contain asthmagens?
The good news is your NYC public school can be green cleaned. After a successful pilot program in the NYC public schools, our parent advocacy group, Wellness in the Schools (WITS), has gotten green cleaners onto SDI's list (NYC schools' custodial supply list). All NYC public school custodians will be getting this new SDI catalog as well as a flyer from us this week.
ChildSafe is the most child-protective standard for cleaners in the country. These cleaners are bio-based which helps ameliorate global warming and could prevent 500,000 pounds
of toxic chemicals from entering NYC's environment annually. If you want your school to be cleaned with non-toxic cleaners in the fall, please go to our website, print out the flyer and hand this to your school's custodian. You can also give them a call and ask them to choose products from SDI's catalog with the Childsafe logo. Many custodians will be ordering cleaners for the fall once they get the catalog next week, so please do this now.
This will ensure that you get the safest cleaners for your child's school. For a copy of the flyer and more information on this program, please visit www.wellnessintheschools.org.
Please forward this email to any NYC public school parents you know.
We are also pushing for the city to adopt the ChildSafe standard for all NYC schools. Please join us in our effort.
Thanks,
Kirsten Brashares
Executive Director (and NYC public school parent of two)
Wellness in the Schools
www.wellnessintheschools.org
Their Mission
Wellness in the Schools (WITS) is a grass roots organization that promotes children's environmental health, nutrition and fitness within schools.
Overview
The idea for Wellness in the Schools (WITS) grew out of a common interest shared by a group of concerned New York City public school parents. We united in the conviction that healthier bodies make healthier minds, and that, conversely, unhealthy school environments interfere with student health, school attendance and academic achievement.
In order to provide healthier places of learning, we tackled three major issues within schools: Children's Environmental Health, Nutrition, and Fitness. With these areas in mind, we started with three pilot schools. During the 2005-2006 school year, we introduced several pilot programs. School by school, we will continue to promote healthier places of learning as we bring our pilot programs to scale.
Our goal is simple, we want our children to have the best possible environment in which to learn. Our programs currently only serve NYC public schools.
Contact Them
Thank you for your interest in WITS. We offer our program as a model for other classrooms and schools. If you would like to be a WITS classroom or would like more information about WITS, click here.
Support WITS
WITS is a 501(c)(3). To make a tax-deductible donation, please click here. You may also click here to contact us.
