INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY NOTICE
The Appleton Area School District would like to inform staff, students, parents, and the public of the availability and implementation of the District’s Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) management plan. The plan was initially developed in 2001 and was updated in 2013.
This plan outlines the district’s policy and procedures for ensuring the quality of indoor air for each school within the district. Questions and concerns about indoor air quality, or requests for copies of the plan, should be directed to the IEQ Coordinator by contacting the Facilities and Operations Department located at 531 North Morrison Street.
ASBESTOS NOTICE
As a result of the federal law known as AHERA (Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act), all primary and secondary schools were required to develop and implement a plan for managing all building materials that contain asbestos. Included in the act is the requirement to notify all parents, guardians, and staff members, as well as organizations representing them, of activities and events with the asbestos-containing building materials annually.
Asbestos has been used in many building materials due to its outstanding insulating and strengthening properties. When it is undisturbed or intact, it poses little hazard to human health. It is only when damage has or may occur that the quality of the school’s management program becomes an issue. In 1988, all buildings owned, leased, or “under the control of” the Appleton Area School District were inspected by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) accredited inspectors, with building material samples analyzed by an independent laboratory.
Based on the inspection, Appleton Area School District prepared, and the state approved a comprehensive management plan for administering the asbestos located within its buildings safely and responsibly. The AHERA Act requires re‐inspections to be conducted tri‐annually according to a comprehensive management plan for managing asbestos and asbestos-containing materials located within its buildings safely and responsibly. The Act also requires periodic walk‐through inspections (called “surveillance”) to be conducted every six months of each area or building containing asbestos.
In the Appleton Area School District, where asbestos‐containing materials were found, they were repaired, removed, or are under proper management and observation under an Operation and Maintenance Program. Short‐term workers (outside contractors, telephone repair workers, electricians, exterminators, etc.) must be provided with information regarding the location of asbestos with which they may come into contact. All short‐term workers shall contact the Asbestos Program Manager at the Facilities and Operations Department before commencing work to be given this information.
The Appleton Area School District has a list of locations and types of asbestos-containing materials found in each building and a description and timetable for their proper management. These plans also contain records of any asbestos-related removal projects that were conducted during the calendar year. Future removal or abatement projects are dependent on many factors and cannot always be predetermined. Such factors include emergency removals, deteriorated asbestos found during inspections, remodeling or demolition plans, and budgetary constraints.
