By Jeanmarie Evelly

Local State Sen. Jeff Klein is teaming up with the Department of Education to combat sky-high childhood asthma rates in the Bronx, saying the breathing disorder is not only hazardous to children’s health but to their education, as the ailment is a leading cause of chronic absences in schools.

The senator launched an initiative this month, in partnership with New York City Schools Chancellor Denis Walcott, that will attempt to more effectively monitor and reduce factors that cause asthma, and increase awareness of the disease.

“This affliction has not only taken our children’s health hostage, it is holding their education for ransom,” Klein said of the program, dubbed the NYC Asthma Friendly Schools Campaign. “What we have developed is a comprehensive strategy to detect local environmental triggers that cause asthma attacks, educate parents on how to treat asthma at home, and keep kids in the classroom and out of the hospital.”

The Bronx has an an asthma hospitalization rate that is 70 percent higher than the rest of the city and 700 percent higher than the rest of the state, according to a press release.

Klein and Walcott’s plan includes the recent installation of temporary air monitors at two locations in Throggs Neck, a neighborhood in the senator’s district where he says asthma pollutants are high but where the air quality has never been studied.

The program will also train students, parents and schoolteachers on better asthma management techniques, strengthen school health teams that deal with the disease, and set up a special asthma unit for the city’s 311 hotline to answer parents’ questions.

Klein also introduced legislation he says will help lower childhood asthma cases across the state. If passed, it would mandate training programs for schoolteachers, create stricter bans on idling cars that emit exhaust fumes near school grounds, and limit the use of asthma-triggering chemicals in school buildings.