The Clean Water for Carolina Kids™ program is expanding to the Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids™ program.
This is a legislatively mandated effort to address lead and asbestos hazards in North Carolina public schools, licensed child care centers, and licensed family child care homes. Participation allows facilities to meet all rule requirements for identified lead and asbestos hazards, as required by law.
Our team is here to help you complete the program.
Contact us with questions or comments.
About the Program
The goal of the Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids™ program is to identify and eliminate lead and asbestos hazards where North Carolina children learn and play.
We partner with public schools, licensed child care centers, and family child care homes to identify these hazards, share results, and help facilities take action to ensure healthy learning environments for children.
Facility participation in this program is FREE thanks to funding from the state of North Carolina and federal government. Learn more about our funding and covered activities.
The Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids™ program is a partnership between RTI International, a nonprofit research institute, and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS), with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) as a liaison.
This program fulfills state requirements related to 15A NCAC 18A .2816 and NC 10A NCAC 41C.1001-1007.
Your Online Portal
The Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids™ program helps North Carolina public schools and child care facilities complete activities to identify and prevent exposure to lead in drinking and cooking water, lead-based paint, and asbestos. Participant education and training are cornerstones of our program.
Building on the success of the award-winning Clean Water for Carolina Kids™ platform, the Clean Classrooms for Carolina Kids™ portal is a user-friendly hub for facilities to complete all steps of the program, including enrollment, tracking facility progress, receiving results and next steps, and documenting participation.
The online portal can be accessed on computers and mobile devices through an internet browser.
- Begin the enrollment process to set up a facility’s online portal account based on your needs. Multiple facilities can enroll with one user, or one facility can include one or more users.
- Sign in to a registered account to finish an open enrollment survey, check on an enrolled facility’s status, or view results.
- View publicly available data from facilities across the state.
Lead in Water
Facilities complete our survey so we can build and ship your facility’s custom water sampling kit. Your facility collects and ships drinking and cooking water samples using our user-friendly instructions and online tutorials!
Lead-Based Paint
Facilities complete our survey and upload requested documents. Our expert team reviews your facility's information and coordinate next steps, as needed, to identify and eliminate lead-based paint hazards.
Asbestos
Facilities complete our survey and upload requested documents. Our expert team reviews your facility's information to determine and coordinate any next steps needed to identify and eliminate asbestos hazards.
Sign up and attend a required pre-enrollment training webinar, which provides information about environmental hazards, state requirements, personnel and facility information needed for the program, and tips for success. Our team is available to answer any questions you might have after the webinar.
After attending the webinar, you will receive an enrollment pin that allows you to create an account for your facility and view the training videos for each section.
Different staff members can complete different sections of the program, based on what works for each facility or district.
After completing the online training for the water section, you will fill out a short survey about your facility’s building and taps used for drinking and cooking water. Our program uses this information to send you a free water sample kit and a copy of our easy-to-use instructions.
After completing the online training for the lead-based paint section, you will fill out a short survey and upload documentation about building construction date(s) and/or any prior lead-based paint assessments. Our program uses this information to determine the next steps for your facility: either performing an on-site risk assessment or exempting your facility from this program requirement.
After completing the online training for the asbestos section, you will fill out a short survey and upload documentation about building construction date(s), any existing asbestos inspections, and/or asbestos management plans. Our program uses this information to determine the next steps for your facility: either performing an on-site inspection or exempting your facility from this program requirement.
☑️ Water: Using your facility’s custom sample kit, trained staff at your facility collect samples of drinking and cooking water and ship the samples back to the RTI International Laboratory for analysis. Our team then analyzes your facility’s water samples using state-of-the-science laboratory equipment.
☑️ Lead-based Paint: If our team’s review of your uploaded documentation indicates your facility needs a lead-based paint risk assessment, we will help coordinate a visit from a certified risk assessor. They will assess lead-based paint hazards, which may include taking samples of paint, dust, and soil. Any collected samples will be analyzed at the RTI International Laboratory.
☑️ Asbestos: If our team’s review of your uploaded documentation indicates your facility needs an asbestos inspection or re-inspection, we will help coordinate a visit from an accredited asbestos inspector. They will inspect the condition of building materials at your facility and may collect samples to identify if these materials contain asbestos. Any collected samples will be analyzed by an RTI-designated laboratory.
You can check your facility’s progress and status for each section at any time in the online portal.
After our team reviews your facility’s sampling results, uploaded documentation, and data from any on-site visits (if applicable), we share results and any recommended or required next steps for each program section. You will be notified of your facility’s results and next steps as they become available for each section.
If lead in water is found above the state action level, our team helps you complete low-cost mitigation.
If lead-based paint or asbestos hazards are found, facilities are notified and they can choose to restrict access to the area or to mitigate the hazard, with cost reimbursement available from NC DHHS.
Learn more about our funding and covered mitigation activities.
We encourage facilities to use our Communication Toolkit to communicate with parents, staff, students, and caregivers throughout the entire process. For additional resources, please visit our Resources and Training page.
Facilities are required to notify parents, staff, students, and caregivers if environmental hazards exceed state or federal action levels. Recommended and required next steps related to communication are provided with your results report for each section in the program.