Claire L. Barnett, MBA, Founder and Executive Director, Healthy Schools Network, Inc. and Coordinator, national Coalition for Healthier Schools

Mrs. Barnett is founder and Executive Director of the Healthy Schools Network, Inc. (the Network), a national environmental health 501c3 not for profit research, education, and advocacy organization, and the Coordinator of the national Coalition for Healthier Schools, convened by the Network’s national advisers. The Network has challenged the nation with a call to action to ensure that schools are environmentally responsible to all children, to personnel, and to communities.

As a child health advocate, she convened the fledgling Network in 1995 as a New York statewide coalition; it has since shaped and won new funds and multiple laws on school environments in the nation’s third largest educational system (NYS) and the nation’s single largest school district (NYC).

She has also fostered successful replications of the Network’s organizing model and policy agenda in collaboration with state NGO leaders nationwide. The Network has won several awards and recognitions, including: a National Special Achievement Award from US EPA, a Child Health Recognition Award from US EPA, and a Green Apple Award from the Collaborative for High Performance Schools.

The national Coalition was convened and played a pivotal role urging Congress to appropriate $1.2b to repair schools. Barnett also led the Coalition campaign to secure the federal Healthy and High Performance Schools Act in 2002 that secured a first ever federal study on the impacts of decayed facilities on children (2004). She also led the Coalition’s successful campaign to enact the federal High Performance Green Buildings Act of 2007 that authorizes EPA to develop first-ever federal guidelines on indoor environments and school siting.

She has served on many state and federal advisory groups, such as EPA’s federal advisory committee on children’s health, EPA’s work group to address air toxics monitoring outside schools nationwide, and a New York Department of Health council on children’s health protection. Her previous work includes administering a rural county mental health agency including developing shared services for children, consulting with local rural governments on Main Street sustainability issues, and reporting for TIME magazine in New York City. She holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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