VALLEY MOM HELPS MAKE CAMPUSES SAFER.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Robina Suwol sat in her car in the drop-off line at Sherman Oaks Elementary School nine years ago waiting for her 6-year-old son, Nick, to turn and blow her a kiss.

It was their morning ritual. A hug in the car, then his one last turn in front of school to wave goodbye and blow a kiss before walking inside with his older brother, Brandon.

Who knew that kiss blown her way nine years ago would lead to the Van Nuys mom's being named as a finalist in the fifth annual Volvo for Life Awards as the nation's No. 1 hometown hero?

If Robina hadn't waited those extra seconds for her son to turn and blow her a kiss, she never would have seen the school gardener -- dressed in protective white coveralls for handling hazardous material -- also turn and accidentally spray weed killer in the direction of Nick and a few other kids walking into school.

Later in the day, Nick, an asthmatic, had a severe attack. And his worried mother went looking for answers that led to a major statewide movement to protect all students from dangerous toxic substances.

"What started out as a concern for the health of her children has helped protect millions of kids from harmful pesticides and toxins," the contest judges wrote, naming Robina one of three national finalists. The winner will be announced in April.

The first thing the Van Nuys single parent of two boys did was try to find out exactly what chemicals the gardener sprayed that morning.

"I wasn't looking to be litigious or to blame anyone," she said. "I just wanted to know what it was my son breathed in, but they were hesitant to tell me.

"I finally used the ruse of wanting to know because I thought their lawns and yards looked so beautiful I wanted to use the same stuff on my own lawn."

The weed killer was called Princep, and Robina found it had negative side effects and wasn't available for sale over the counter.

So why, she wanted to know, was this toxic weed killer being used around children at schools? No one had an answer.

She contacted Los Angeles Unified School District board member Julie Korenstein and started doing her own homework -- talking with medical researchers, environmentalists, scientists and all the experts she could find in the field of safer pest-control methods.

She started her own nonprofit group of parents -- the California Safe Schools Coalition -- and with Korenstein's help persuaded the school district, along with Los Angeles County health officials, to draft the integrated pest management or IPM policy, eliminating the use of dangerous pesticides.

"I and all the parents of children in this state will forever be thankful to Robina for being the driving force behind the IPM," Korenstein said Monday. "It is the most stringent pesticide policy in the nation for schools."

Fighting to make schools use pesticides that are the least toxic to humans and to ensure that parents have the right to know exactly what chemicals are used in and around their children's schools has been at the center of her life the past nine years, Robina said.

Nick's in high school now. He's not blowing his mom kisses in front of school anymore.

"But he's proud of me; both my sons are," Robina said. "They've been with me every step of the way, going to conferences and health fairs with me because they know how important this issue is."

Important enough for her to be named a finalist as the nation's No. 1 hometown hero.

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Robina Suwol, visiting the campus of CHAMP -- Charter High of the Arts: Multimedia and Performing -- in Van Nuys on Monday, is one of three finalists for a $50,000 Volvo award as a hometown hero.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer