Two local schools have been at the center of controversy regarding indoor air pollution. Some say it is making children and teachers sick. But there may be much more to the story, specifically about asthma. And it is developing into a serious threat to getting a good education.

Valerie Davis has asthma.

It’s one scary ailment.

“It scares me more than her,” mother Susan said.

At Texas Children’s Hospital, her doctor can show you why.

“This plugging can totally close off airways,” Dr. Stuart Abramson said.

Studies done in Houston found that asthma affected 11 percent of kids in Houston public schools --  some 23,000 students.

Asthma in Houston is a big, growing and perplexing problem, and not just a health problem. In some parts of the city, it’s making it harder for kids to get an education.

“We did school-based surveillance in Galveston and Houston with around 100,000 children,” said Dr. Sharon Petronella with UTMB-Galveston.

Doctors in Galveston found asthma is having a significant impact on schools.

AP

A young girl is tested for asthma.

“And asthma is the number one cause of school absenteeism,” Dr. Petronella said.

Their research showed kids from some lower-income neighborhoods suffering more, missing more school.

But why?

One answer came when the researchers went door-to-door on Houston’s near north side.

“We found in one neighborhood that we studied a significant number of houses used their gas stoves as a source of heating for the home,” Dr. Petronella said.

Using a gas stove for heating creates nitrogen dioxide, which isn’t good for anyone to breathe, but it’s especially bad for asthmatics.

“We tell them the best solution is to improve ventilation in the house,” Dr. Edwards Brooks said.

Bad air at home was one factor, but what about where kids spend a good part of the day: in school.

In recent weeks, officials temporarily closed a school in HISD and another in the North Forest district over concerns the air was making kids sick.

Investigations are still under way, but the idea some schools have bad air should come as no surprise given what was found in these studies.

In work done over the last decade, researchers took air samples from dozens of Houston-area public schools. They won’t reveal exactly which ones they visited.

They measured the air for dust mite and cockroach droppings, carbon dioxide and mold, all things that can trigger or worsen asthma.

One study found that acceptable levels for dust mite and cockroach droppings “were exceeded in all types of Houston schoolrooms.”

Another found 86 percent of the school rooms had high levels of carbon dioxide and 20 percent had “unacceptable” levels of mold.

The studies faulted the schools for generally having bad ventilation and for using wet methods to clean carpets, a technique the study said had been linked to dust mites and mold.

But here’s the thing.

“It’s still a mystery,” Dr. Joseppi Colasurdo said.

Leading experts like Dr. Colasurdo, dean of UT’s medical school, say the prevalence of kids with asthma has increased dramatically, up nearly 50 percent in the past 20 years. 

“We don’t have an explanation for that,” he said.

But in his lab, they’re looking for answers.

They’ve saved crystallized samples of actual Houston air pollution that they use on asthmatic mice.

Someday it might help kids like Valerie and help keep them healthier to reduce the effect asthma is having on their education.