Better air. Fewer missed days. Healthier kids.
Poppy is leading a federally-funded research program to deploy smart air systems in schools across the U.S. — detecting and reducing the triggers driving asthma and respiratory conditions in children. We're looking for forward-thinking districts to join us.
Funded by ARPA-H — no cost to participating schools
Americans living with asthma, including 4.5M children
AAFA / CDC NHIS
school days missed every year due to asthma
CDC / AAFA
of asthma attacks are triggered by allergens and indoor air exposures
AAFA
annual U.S. cost from asthma: care, missed school, lost productivity
Annals ATS, 2018 via CDC
The challenge
Asthma is the leading chronic disease in school-age children — and schools are where they spend their days.
Most school buildings have no way to see what's in the air. Allergens, mold, and other respiratory triggers cycle through classrooms invisibly — driving asthma attacks, absences, and reduced learning, with no way to detect them and no automatic response.
The result: kids with asthma miss twice as many school days as their peers, and districts face lower attendance-based funding as a direct consequence.
- Asthma is responsible for more pediatric emergency visits than any other chronic condition
- Mold, dust mites, and seasonal allergens are among the top triggers — all airborne, all indoors
- Children with poorly controlled asthma score lower on standardized tests
- Attendance funding tied to daily enrollment is directly affected by respiratory absences
Common triggers found in school air
All of these are detectable — and actionable — with the right building infrastructure. That's what SCALE is building.
The BREATHE SCALE program
An immune system for every school building.
Funded by ARPA-H, SCALE is developing the first continuous, real-time air sensing and building response system designed specifically for schools — sensing what's in the air and automatically protecting the people inside.
Sense
Real-time, continuous detection of allergens, mold, and airborne particles across the school building. Air is analyzed at the molecular level — not estimated from a model.
Assess
An intelligent risk engine translates detections into room-by-room health actions — continuously updated as the system learns about your specific building and population.
Protect
Automatic building responses — ventilation adjustments, filtration, air treatment — activated before exposures reach harmful levels, then verified room by room with real-time air tracing.
Led by Poppy Health · ARPA-H BREATHE Program · Learn more at breathe2026.org →
What schools get
What joining SCALE means for your district.
Participation in SCALE is funded research — no budget impact for your district. Here's what participating schools gain.
Fewer asthma attacks, fewer absences
The system actively reduces student exposure to asthma triggers: allergens, mold, and respiratory irritants. Fewer attacks means fewer absences, nurse visits, and calls home.
Attendance funding you're currently leaving behind
Asthma is the leading cause of chronic absenteeism in K-12. SCALE turns air quality from a health issue into a school performance issue — and an attendance funding issue your district can actually do something about.
A real-time window into your buildings
Participating schools receive access to a live dashboard showing what's in the air, room by room. Parents, administrators, and facilities teams get a clear, plain-language view of building air quality — no guesswork.
Future-proof air infrastructure, at no cost
Federally funded installation means your district receives smart air infrastructure it would otherwise need to budget and procure independently. The system integrates with your existing HVAC and updates via software as new threats emerge.
Be part of defining the standard
SCALE is building the evidence base for what healthy school air looks like — and the infrastructure to deliver it. Participating districts are co-creating that standard, with published results and findings from your buildings.
Something concrete to tell parents
Parents with asthmatic or allergic children are looking for action, not reassurance. Participation in a federally-funded program to protect children's respiratory health gives your district a credible, substantive story to tell.
Is this for you?
Who we're looking to partner with.
We're actively expanding to schools across the U.S. If any of these describe you, we'd like to hear from you.
District Facilities Leader
You want to make air quality measurable and defensible — and you're tired of relying on assumptions. SCALE gives you real data, room by room.
District Health Services Leader
You're managing chronic conditions across a student population and want to move from reactive response to prevention. Building infrastructure is part of the answer.
Superintendent or Deputy Superintendent
Attendance, health outcomes, and parent trust are all on your radar. SCALE connects all three — with a federally-backed program that requires no district funding.
Principal or School Leader
You're responsible for a building where students with asthma are sitting in classrooms every day. You want to do something real, not just file a report.
District Sustainability or ESG Lead
You're working toward healthy building certifications and want verified, defensible data on indoor air quality as part of your environmental health reporting.
School Board Member or Administrator
You want to understand how SCALE might work in your district before bringing a recommendation forward. We're happy to brief you at any level.
Program scale
Already active. Expanding rapidly.
SCALE is deploying across schools in 6 states, with 40–60 public schools in full rollout by 2027. Poppy leads the program alongside 26 partner organizations.
ARPA-H award to Poppy for SCALE — fully federally funded
U.S. states with confirmed school deployments
partner organizations including leading research universities
sq ft already measured by Poppy across buildings nationwide
Research partners include University of Nebraska Medical Center, Penn State, University of Colorado Anschutz, University of Minnesota, University of Texas Medical Branch, Harvard Wyss Institute, and Draper.
In the news
Coverage of SCALE.
ARPA-H
BREATHE research teams kick off efforts to enhance indoor air quality to improve health and advance the future of smart buildings
Sep 2025 · Official ARPA-H announcement naming Poppy as a selected team
EIN Presswire
Poppy awarded ARPA-H contract up to $39M to tackle preventative health through breakthrough indoor air infrastructure
Dec 2025 · Official Poppy SCALE award announcement
CU Anschutz
How to improve indoor air quality in K-12 classrooms: CU researchers join federal initiative
Feb 2026 · CU Anschutz evaluating health outcomes and school-air interventions in the Poppy-led SCALE project
Express interest
Bring SCALE to your school or district.
We're actively expanding. Tell us a bit about your district and we'll be in touch — no commitment required.
Prefer email? Reach us directly at [email protected]