What condition is your neighborhood school building in?
Does it have any asbestos? Any rusting pipes? How old is the roof?
And if you can’t answer these questions off the top of your head–because who can, really?–do you know where you would go to find the answers?
The Current State of Data
In Philadelphia, as in many districts across the country, access to comprehensive, reliable data about school conditions is disappointingly limited. The information that is available often remains trapped within the confines of school district databases, inaccessible to the public whose lives it most affects. This lack of transparency does not just hinder our understanding; it stifles our ability to advocate for necessary changes. When we talk about the health and safety of our schools, ignorance is not bliss – it’s a barrier to progress.
It’s also important to note that even within the District itself, much of the data and information needs are incredibly deficient. Data and information is segregated into separate silos – Environmental vs Capital Programs vs Maintenance and more with each program using differing systems, structures, and platforms greatly limiting necessary cross functional and cross-departmental data sharing and communication. Additionally, data collection and organization is often much more chaotic than it should be with a lack of systematic data collection, entry and naming resulting in confusion as well as difficulty in effective, coordinated planning and response.
The Right to Information
This data is not just a collection of numbers and reports. It’s crucial information detailing everything from building conditions to environmental hazards, and it represents the daily realities of our educators and students. As parents, school staff, and community members, we have a fundamental right to this information, because we have a fundamental right to understand the environments where our children learn and our colleagues work. So when we talk about “data transparency,” it’s not just some bureaucratic box to check; it’s a matter of public health and trust.
The Healthy Schools Tracker: A Game-Changer
What can be done about the gaps in available information?
The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) has taken a groundbreaking step with the Healthy Schools Tracker app: a mobile application that makes it easy for educational and support staff to report adverse school conditions directly. Instead of sending their concerns to the black box of district work order systems, they can use this tool to report and track issues, with no need to jump through complicated hoops.
In that sense, the Healthy Schools Tracker is more than just an app–it’s a platform for change. By crowd-sourcing data directly from those who are in these buildings every day, we gain a real-time, accurate picture of our schools’ conditions. The app promotes a structured, trackable way to have the “voice” of school staff be able to report about the “as-lived” and “as-experienced” conditions they face. But it does more than help report issues: it also holds the system accountable. It’s a step towards a future where the health and safety of our school environments are visible and prioritized.
What’s Next for Data Transparency
On its own, the HST app doesn’t provide a comprehensive picture of all the information and data required for us to plan the sustainable improvements our kids deserve and our schools need. But collecting reports on conditions is a major step toward our eventual easy-to-navigate data website. Soon, anyone who looks at the site will be able to find room, school, and district level information about the conditions that we all care about and that need our attention.
As we continue to explore sustainable solutions for our schools, remember that data transparency is not just about having information; it’s about empowering everyone to be a part of the solution. It’s about making sure that we can find the answers to those first few questions with just a few clicks.
In our next post, we will delve into the second element of our approach: Establishing Adequate Building Condition standards. Together, armed with the right information and tools, we can build a brighter, healthier future for our schools.