Date

(Name of Principal)
(School)
(Address 1)
(City, State, Zip)

Dear (Name of Principal):

Thank you again for agreeing to participate in this critical program. Unnecessary vehicle idling is a leading cause of pollution and a major factor in the exponential rise of childhood asthma throughout Washington. This is one hazard that can easily be prevented, and your school's teachers, students, parents and school volunteers will play a vital role in creating a solution. The (Name of organization) has designed a program that will allow the teachers and students in your classrooms to actively improve the air quality around the school and in their neighborhood.

The challenge/process is simple:

• Please provide your teachers with the enclosed "tool kits" containing parent letters, "No Idle" Pledge Forms, and a fact sheet to help illustrate just how critical this issue is. Teachers will ask students to take the enclosed letter and pledge form home with them and have their parent(s) or guardian sign the pledge form and return it.
• Every student who brings back a signed pledge form will receive a "Thank You" gift for their parent from a participating local business, along with an idling reduction key chain.

Our goal is 100 percent participation, but 80 percent class participation will earn the class a pizza or ice cream party (or other reward) from (Name of local business). Furthermore, 80 percent participation will earn the teacher a "Thank You" gift from (Name of local business).

A detailed outline of all the activities that will be taking place at your school during the course of the program, as well as a copy of the letter and fact sheet that will be sent home with your students, is attached.

Thank you for your support of this program and your commitment to improving the health of children and the environment.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact (Program Contact).

Program Outline

Thank you for agreeing to take part in the (Program Name). Here is a detailed outline of the activities that will be taking place in your school during the course of the program, and a description of the materials that are included in the boxes that you have received today.

Program Dates:

• (Insert Program Dates)

It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air Signs:

• Enclosed you will find two "It All Adds Up to Cleaner Air" signs which should be mounted in an area near where parents drop off and pick up their children. Please talk with your Operations Managers and choose an appropriate and visible location to hang these signs. Please have these signs posted by (Date).

Parent Outreach:

• Enclosed you will find packets labeled with the names of your teachers. Each teacher has two packets. Please distribute these packets to your teachers on (Date).
• The first packet contains letters and pledge forms that will be sent home with parents on (Date). Parents are asked to read the letter and fact sheet, sign the pledge not to idle, and return the "No Idling" pledge form to school with their child.
• The second packet contains thank you gifts, which will be given to students who return the "No Idling" pledge. The gifts include a "No Idling" key chain and a (Description of gift).
• Teachers have also been provided with a self-addressed envelope which they will use to return the signed pledge forms.
• Any classroom that returns 80 percent or more of their pledge forms will receive a pizza or ice cream party (or other reward), which we will coordinate with you and/or the teachers.
• The teachers whose classrooms reach 80 percent or more will also receive a thank you gift.

 

Delivery Driver Outreach:

• Enclosed is a packet labeled "Delivery Driver Outreach." This packet should be given to your front office staff. Each packet contains two sets of envelopes.
• The first set of envelopes contains letters and pledge forms for delivery drivers. Please ask your front desk staff to hand these letters to delivery drivers that visit your school during the week of (Program Dates). Have staff ask the drivers to sign the pledge not to idle and return it to them.
• The second set of envelopes contains a key chain and (Description of gift). The front desk staff should give one of these envelopes to every delivery driver that returns a signed pledge form.
• Front desk staff has also been provided with a self-addressed envelope which they will use to return the signed pledge forms.

 

Research:

• During the course of the program, volunteers and temporary staff will be on hand both before and after school to record idling times.
• The research packet that you will find in this box contains stopwatches, clipboards, tracking forms and pens. Please give these supplies to your front desk staff on (Date).
• Monitors will arrive approximately 35 minutes prior to the start of school, and will check in at the front desk to pick up their supplies. Monitors will stand near the pick-up/drop-off area and time vehicles until 20 minutes after school starts. They will then return their supplies to the front desk.
• The afternoon monitors will arrive approximately 35 minutes before classes end and will check in at the front desk. They will stand near the pick-up/drop-off area and time vehicles until 30 minutes after school ends.
• Front desk staff should use the enclosed self-addressed envelope to return the completed tracking forms once the program has concluded on (Program end date).
• The stopwatches and clipboards should be returned to (Name of organization)

 

Bus Driver Outreach:

• "No Idling" fact sheets and pledge forms are also being sent to the bus drivers in your district to ask them to reduce their amount of idling time while carrying your students to and from school, as well as in their personal driving time.

Dear Parent:

The (Name of organization) has identified unnecessary vehicle idling as a contributor to air pollution and increased health risk in our state. Ironically, one of the areas where most unnecessary idling occurs is at schools by parents waiting to drop off and pick up their children.

To illustrate this point, consider this - just one vehicle dropping off and picking up one child at one school puts about three pounds of pollution into the air per month. In addition, idling consumes from ½ gallon to one gallon of fuel per hour, and uses more fuel than turning off and on your engine.

We have included a fact sheet with this letter to give you more information on the hazards of idling and to help illustrate just why this issue is so critical.

During the school year, the students of your school will be part of a comprehensive "No Idling" program. The (Name of organization) encourages you to sign the enclosed "No Idling" pledge form and return it to school with your child. Every parent who signs a pledge form will receive a "Thank You" gift from a local business. Eighty percent class participation will earn the class a pizza or ice cream party (or other reward) donated from (Name of local business).

We ask that you become an active participant in improving air quality and reducing health risks by eliminating idling in school zones, at ATM machines, at drive-thru lanes, while waiting for a ferry or bridge, and while running in to a dry cleaner or other place of business for a "quick stop."

The simple but critical change in behavior of idling your vehicle no longer than 30 seconds, will drastically improve the air quality in your neighborhoods and the air your children breathe.

Thank you for your support of this program.

Idling Reduction Fact Sheet

Did you know?

• Each of us takes 20,000 breaths each day.
• The average American breathes 3,400 gallons of air a day.
• Children breathe 50 percent more air per pound than adults.
• Vehicle exhaust is the leading source of toxic air pollution in Washington. (Replace with statistic relevant to program location.)
• Idling consumes ½ gallon to 1 gallon of fuel per hour and wastes more fuel than turning off and on your vehicle engine.
• Diesel exhaust contains microscopic soot, a particle that is about 200 times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.
• Diesel exhaust contains both very small particles and 40 chemicals that are classified as "hazardous air pollutants" under the Clean Air Act.
• Idling buses tend to accumulate diesel exhaust, which may be retained during the ride depending upon bus ventilation rates.
• It is more efficient to turn off most warmed-up vehicles than to idle for more than 30 seconds.
• A single vehicle dropping off and picking up kids at one school puts three pounds of pollution into the air per month.
• Carbon monoxide reduces the ability of blood to bring oxygen to body cells and tissues.
• Asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15.
• Children's asthma symptoms increase as a result of car exhaust.
• Asthma is the most common chronic illness in children and the cause of most school absences.
• Exposure to vehicle exhaust increases the risk of death from heart and lung disease and lung cancer.