School District of Philadelphia, Office of Environmental Management & Services (OEMS)

The School District of Philadelphia is the eighth largest school district in the nation, by enrollment. Located in a historic and culturally rich setting, we are a racially and ethnically diverse community committed to education. The mission of the School District of Philadelphia is to provide a high-quality education that prepares, ensures, and empowers all students to achieve their full intellectual and social potential in order to become lifelong learners and productive members of society. The District's Office of Environmental Management & Services (OEMS) works for students, parents, teachers, staff and communities to ensure that the environmental health conditions in our schools are conducive to teaching and learning.  OEMS, with partners from the School District of Philadelphia's Office of Student Services, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, PA Department of Health, American Lung Association, National Nursing Consortium and PA IPM, has developed an Asthma Management Program (AMP).  The AMP's objective is to identify, assess, control and prevent asthma in schools with a two pronged approach that includes appropriate clinical management and environmental management. The goals of the AMP are to: a) Provide a procedure for District staff to manage asthma in schools; b) Provide staff, students and parents with training to identify asthma signs and symptoms, and steps to take in response to same; and, c) Provide classroom and facility staff, students and parents with training to prevent, identify and correct environmental asthma triggers in schools. The School District of Philadelphia is one of the largest and oldest school districts in the United States with over 400 school buildings with the average school building age of 62 years. Philadelphia has the highest asthma prevalence among students compared to all the counties in Pennsylvania. Schools and their staff can work together with parents or guardians, students, and health care providers to minimize risk and to provide a healthy and safe educational environment for students with asthma.