In the fall of this year, New York schools will be required by state law to use environmentally safer cleaning products, but as usual the Great Neck public school system is a leader instead of a follower in matters involving clean air. This is due to a forward thinking board of education, involved parents and concerned staff, but no one disputes that without engineering/construction consultant, David Kincaid, Great Neck would not be so far down the "green" path.

Mr. Kincaid, a modest, button-down and tie man with a cultured English accent does not look like the revolutionary environmentalist stereotype, but in his own quiet way, he has made sweeping contributions to the health and safety of the children and staff in this district.

It all began back in 1986 when Great Neck residents had voted in a large bond issue to do massive re-constructive overhauls in some of the north and south school buildings. Then superintendent William Shine was concerned about the upcoming construction because school districts were just beginning to receive warnings from state and federal health officials about the dangers of friable asbestos in school buildings. Dr. Shine and David Kincaid knew each other through their wives, Sue and Susan respectively, who were classmates in a doctoral program at Columbia University. Dr. Shine was discussing his worries about stirring up asbestos with Mr. Kincaid, a retired mining engineer and construction specialist and remarked, "I really need somebody like you to oversee this so that we don't create a health hazard in doing the work." And that is how Mr. Kincaid came out of retirement and began an aggressive asbestos abatement program in all of the Great Neck schools. He attended a crash course at Johns Hopkins University that provided a practical education about abatement techniques to worried school officials around the country.

In reflecting on those days, Mr. Kincaid says that he keenly remembers sitting with high school students who questioned him intensively about the health risks associated with asbestos. Those discussions fueled his sense of responsibility about making sound decisions that would protect the long-range health of the children of the district.

During this period of emerging data on the dangers of friable (meaning easily reduced to tiny particles) asbestos, state and federal officials kept changing the standards for what they thought constituted "safe air" after disturbing asbestos during construction. At first, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled that 2 fibers of asbestos for every cubic centimeter of air were acceptable. Shortly after that, their ruling changed to 1 fiber per cubic centimeter. Since clearance levels were in flux, the Great Neck School District officials decided to take an even more conservative approach and determined that our standard for clearance would be .001 fibers per cubic centimeter. This more rigorous standard meant that the district only used testing laboratories that had transmission electron microscopes for evaluating air quality.

The whole community got caught up in a higher awareness level of the impact of environmental factors in health and safety matters. Parents whose children were in school during the asbestos era will well remember attending huge informational meetings held throughout the district that were meant to educate the public on the measures being taken to remove or safely encapsulate asbestos and to answer their questions.

Mr. Kincaid began to take an interest in keeping up with the evidence about the vulnerability of children to the myriad petrochemical products consumed by our society. Looking around the school district he took it on himself to require "material safety data sheets" for every product coming into the district from the chalk used on the blackboards to the content of the carpets, paints, tiles, etc. Products that contained known carcinogens were not purchased.

In the '70s with heating costs mounting, the school district welded shut the outdoor air vents in the classrooms to save money. But in the eighties, after Mr. Kincaid started consulting with the district, he realized that the lack of fresh air in the classrooms meant that children were getting tired and sleepy as the day worn on. He arranged a compromise, refitting the air vents to allow for a 15 percent opening and air exchange.

Mr. Kinkaid smiles as he says, "Fighting mold and fungus is a never-ending job. If we see a discolored ceiling tile, we know that fungus is the culprit and we replace the tile and find the source of the moisture...We're never going to win that battle, but we're not going to lose it either."

The school board took the next step toward a greener environment in the schools when, in 1994, they passed an organic grounds care program and an integrated pest management program. These two policies eliminated the fogging of buildings and the spraying of the grounds with pesticides.

The district has also eliminated the purchase of carpet in the school buildings because carpets harbor countless allergens and require toxic materials to thoroughly clean them since vacuuming basically just kicks the dust around. Instead, marmoleum is the floor surface of choice when replacements are made. It has a resin content that actually kills bacteria and as an added plus, it is easier to clean. Mr. Kincaid showed this reporter a room in the Phipps building that sports marmoleum; it has a marble-like appearance that is quite attractive.

With 2 million square feet of buildings to clean every day, it was only logical that Mr. Kincaid would become interested in the new wave of "cleaning green" products. In 2002 he began to turn his attention to finding alternatives for caustic products being used on all the surfaces. He began to explore the efficacy of bio-based cleaning products that are extracted from fruit, nuts and soy for example and do not have added fragrances and dyes. In addition, hydrogen peroxide can be diluted and is very safe and effective for certain cleaning tasks.

Because change is never easy, Mr. Kincaid decided to begin in a small way and chose one school to try the new bio-based products. It turned out that the people who were most enthusiastic about the new approach were the custodians. They did not have to contend with the fumes that burned their eyes and throats and no longer had to open the windows to clear the air. As the custodians found the products to be effective as well as more pleasant to use, they spread the word to the other custodians in the district that "green" was cool.

Other good news for cost conscious administrators is that green products are no more expensive than the ubiquitous petro-chemical products.

In 2004, the school board made the use of bio-based cleaning products a policy, which is a higher bar than the new state standard, which allows for watered-down petro-chemical products to be used. Again the Great Neck school district goes beyond what is required and tries to ferret out what is best.

Mr. Kincaid when he meets with parents is constantly being asked to recommend specific cleaning products for home use. He is not comfortable in recommending brands, but does give parents an information sheet from INFORM, a national, not-for-profit research and outreach organization which gives guidelines for tracking down less toxic substances to use at home. The information sheet may be obtained at www.informinc.org and the organization's phone number is 212-361-2400.

Although the school district has not attempted to do any studies to determine if there is measurable evidence that the "green" approach is healthier, there is certainly anecdotal evidence. One child was suffering with chronic allergies and Mr. Kincaid visited her classroom to better determine what triggers might be responsible. He noticed that there were many stuffed animals and woven materials, dust catchers, in her classroom. With the elimination of these items, the child's participation in school dramatically improved. The very nature of prevention often means that one never knows what dire consequences may have been avoided, but in this case, grateful parents and a healthier little girl were the best rewards for David Kincaid.