Cathy:
Please note that American Chemical Society (ACS)
Guidelines and Recommendations for Teaching Middle and High School Chemistry reinforce NSTA position ( see page 18 in the PDF document posted at
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/policies/acs-guidelines-and-recommendations-for-teaching-high-school-chemistry.html) and provide additional information about high school laboratories. I think our ACS Education Division has printed hard copies
of these guidelines, so I might be able to get them for you, if you find it helpful. Please let me know.
Marta Gmurczyk
Marta U. Gmurczyk, Ph.D.
Safety Programs Manager| Scientific Advancement Division
1155 16th St., NW | Washington | DC 20036
T 202-452-2105 | F 202-872-8068
http://www.acs.org/">www.acs.org
--------------------
ACS Chemistry for Life
American Chemical Society
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
On Behalf Of Jessica Sutherland
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2020 9:32 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [EXT] Re: [DCHAS-L] High School Lab Class Enrollment Limits
[Actual Sender is owner-dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**princeton.edu]
Hi Cathy,
The National Science Teaching Association's (NSTA) position statements on the liability of science teachers for the teaching of laboratory science state that no more than 24 students should be enrolled in a science class for adequate supervision.
You can view the position statements at https://www.nsta.org/about/positions/liability.aspx I hope this is helpful.
Jessica Sutherland
Vestavia Hills High School
The available bench space is for 24 students. The total square footage in the lab area is 522 sq ft. The whole classroom is 1200 square feet with students seating and lab area.
Cathy,
I was looking into lab occupancy guidance just yesterday. The most iron-clad reason would be if your
local fire code dictated that limit. If that's not feasible, could you provide the square footage and the amount of available bench space?
Sincerely,
Jack Reidy (he/him)
Research Safety Specialist
Environmental Health & Safety
Stanford University
484 Oak Road, Stanford, CA, 94305
Tel: (650) 497-7614
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health
and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
On Behalf Of Smiley, Cathy
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 1:08 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] High School Lab Class Enrollment Limits
My colleague and I are the Chemical Hygiene Officers in our school. We currently only allow 24 students in any lab based science class. We are being asked to justify this enrollment
limit. Our current lab space accommodates 24 students.
Does anyone have any resource guidelines that state we cannot go beyond this capacity?
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