Mrs. Barnett is founder and Executive Director of the Healthy Schools Network, a national 501c3 not for profit environmental health research, education, and advocacy organization, founded in 1995, and the Coordinator of the unincorporated national Coalition for Healthier Schools, co-convened by the Network’s board and national partners to provide the platform and the forum for environmental health at school. In 2017, she was honored with two national awards: the William K. Reilly Award for Environmental Leadership from American University School of Public Affairs, and the American Public Health Association’s David P. Rall Award for contributions to public health through science based advocacy. Reilly was EPA Administrator from 1989-1993; Rall was the Director of the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences from 1971-1990.

Since its founding, the Network has challenged the nation to ensure that schools are environmentally responsible to all children, personnel, and communities. It is recognized as the nation’s leading voice for children’s environmental health at school. Among the landmark policies shaped and won are the New York State Board of Regents’ guiding principles and comprehensive recommendations for school environmental quality (1995); new laws to improve indoor environmental quality in schools in New York City and state; and securing new federal authorizations for the Education Department and for US Environmental Protection Agency. The Network has fostered reform coalitions in dozens of states and cities, guided parents into constructive advocacy; and spurred the requirement for schools to use green cleaning products in multiple states. In 2016, the Network released its fourth triennial national indicator report Towards Healthy Schools: Reducing Risks to Children, and, at home in New York, championed the nation’s first law requiring schools to test at the tap for lead.

Programs created:
Healthy Schools/Healthy Kids Clearinghouse© (1996): houses fact sheets for parents and others.
National Healthy Schools Hero Award© (2000): honors policy and research leaders.
National Healthy Schools Day© (2002): annual day of public awareness, with scores of agencies and advocates.
NewsSlice (2003): provides curated online news and event listings for the field.
National Collaborative Work Group on Green Cleaning and Chemical Policy Reform in Schools (2006): houses technical materials from members; members champion green product standards and new polices for schools nationwide.

Barnett was one of one hundred women invited to White House Summits on Women and the Environment (2012, 2013), and is a frequent speaker for US EPA and presenter at American Public Health Association conferences. She serves on the planning committee of the National Coordinating Committee on School Health & Safety (HRSA’s Maternal & Child Health Bureau), the National Advisory Board of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, and the Steering Committee of the New York State Clean and Green Schools project of the state health agency. She also is an adviser to the New York State energy authority’s research project on the Climate and the Buildings Sector. She has held appointments on US EPA’s federal advisory committee on children’s health protection and EPA’s working groups on school environments, drinking water, and air toxics.

In 2007 she received both a National Excellence Award from US EPA and a Green Apple Award from the Collaborative for High Performance Schools for advancing Indoor Air in Schools. In 2014, she received a National Partner Award from Green Seal, the international eco-labeler. In 2016, she was recognized by New Orleans’ Walter A Cohen Alumni Association for helping to save its historic African American high school from demolition and relocation to a toxic landfill. In 2017, she received the Wm Reilly Award for national environmental leadership from American University and the David Rall Award for contributions to public health from the American Public Health Association.

Prior to founding the Network, her professional work included: sustainable development consulting in rural New York’s Adirondack Park; administrator for a rural mental health service where she added sheltered work and living programs, and a multi-district, school-based intervention program; and five years reporting for TIME Magazine in New York City. Barnett earned her BA from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.

URLs: www.HealthySchools.org www.CleaningforHealthySchools.org www.NationalHealthySchoolsDay.org