California Safe Schools (CSS) was founded in 1998 by Robina Suwol as a children’s environmental health and environmental justice coalition. The need for an improved school environment became very clear to Robina when her sons were sprayed with the herbicide Princep, as they headed to class by a gardener in a hazardous materials suit. Robina’s youngest son experienced a severe asthma attack and had to be taken to the emergency room. So that no parent or child would ever have to experience an incident like this, Robina founded California Safe Schools and pionee red the gr oundbreaking IPM policy adopted in 1998 by LA Unified, the second largest school district in the nation. The success of the policy led to California legislation, the Healthy Schools Act 2000, and AB 405 (Montanez), which prevents experimental pesticides whose health effects are unknown, from being used in all K-12 California schools. As a result, 6 million students and hundreds of thousands of teachers and school employees have been protected. 

You can help make sure this policy, now a national and international model, continues with the needed oversight of the required 15-member committee. 

Your donation provides critical funding needed to continue the work of CSS. When one understands that pesticides are designed to kill and thus, none are harmless, the importance of CSS is paramount as the barrier between an industry that wants to grow and the health of children and school stakeholders.  Thank you.

California Safe Schools is a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives.

If you'd like to donate by check, please send to:

Community Initiatives- California Safe Schools 6465

PO Box 45515 

San Francisco, CA 94145-0515