RESOURCE GUIDE: ‘Back to School’ advice for 2025-26

DENVER — It feels like only yesterday that school let out for summer, but it’s already August, a month when millions of parents and students start a new term. To help them, as well as teachers and staff – from preschool to graduate school – make healthier, safer and greener choices, PIRG and Environment America’s experts have compiled tip guides addressing a variety of topics. Each of the experts listed below is available for interviews as well.

Social media and Artificial intelligence (AI) advice

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R.J. Cross, [email protected], runs PIRG’s “Our Online Life” program and “Don’t Sell My Data” campaign. She focuses on data privacy issues and the commercialization of personal data in the digital age. Her work ranges from consumer harms, such as scams and data breaches, to manipulative targeted advertising and keeping kids safe online. She has appeared on CBS News and in numerous major national online and print outlets.

• NEW: How to help your kid spot misinformation on social media – As your children begin to access the internet, they are likely to be exposed to all kinds of misinformation, from sloppy AI content to inaccurate news or inflamed opinions. It’s important that your kids learn to recognize misinformation so they end up getting the most they can out of the internet.
• Tip guide for keeping your personal data safe while using ChatGPT — The number of high school and college students using ChatGPT is rising sharply. Twenty-six percent of teens surveyed said they used it for their schoolwork in 2024, up from 13% in 2023. Whenever you interact with ChatGPT or any AI chatbot, you’re handing over your data to the company behind the screen, thereby incurring privacy and security risks.

Healthy eating advice

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Liam Sacino, [email protected], works as PIRG’s public health advocate, focusing on issues that affect our food supply and the health of the country. Liam appeared most recently in Crain’s Chicago Business calling on McDonald’s executives to phase out the routine use of antibiotics in the company’s beef supply.

• NEW: How to Choose a Healthy, Dye-Free Cereal for Your Child – Cereal is a quick option for busy mornings, but many brands are loaded with sugar, artificial colors and ingredients that don’t do growing bodies any favors. This guide helps parents choose food options for their children that are tasty but also healthy.

Safe school drinking water advice

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John Rumpler, [email protected], directs Environment America’s efforts to protect our kids’ drinking water from toxic threats including lead and PFAS chemicals. For more than 20 years, John has worked at the forefront of a wide range of clean water issues. He has appeared on CBS News and in numerous major national online and print outlets.

• Get the Lead Out Toolkit – Information, tips and resources to help families, teachers and school officials take action to ensure safe drinking water at school.
• How do I make sure my tap water is safe?
• The Threat of Forever Chemicals

Consumer finance advice

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Teresa Murray, [email protected], is the director of PIRG’s Consumer Watchdog program. She has written or overseen reports and analyses on topics including price gouging during emergencies, toxic consumer products and scams targeting consumers. She’s passionate about educating people about predatory tactics they may face when they’re vulnerable. Prior to joining PIRG in 2020, Teresa worked as a business journalist and consumer columnist for more than 20 years for Ohio’s largest daily newspaper. Her work with PIRG has been featured by media outlets including CNN, NPR, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

• Smart Money, Smart Kids: Tips for teaching financial literacy and privacy protection to kids of all ages — It’s never too early to teach children and young adults about protecting personal information, how to save up for purchases, how to dispute a fraudulent credit card charge or withdraw money from an ATM without a fee. This guide contains age-appropriate lessons for preschoolers, pre-teens, high schoolers and young adults going off to college or moving away from home.
• What to teach teens and young adults about money, bank accounts, credit cards and more — Most teenagers and young adults don’t know nearly as much as they should about money and how to manage all of the moving parts. If you have a high schooler or young adult in your life who’s starting that first job, buying that first car or going off to college, consider having conversations to teach them about these 11 important issues.

Consumer tech advice

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Nathan Proctor, [email protected], leads PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign, working to pass legislation that will prevent companies from blocking consumers’ ability to fix their own electronics. His work with PIRG has been featured by media outlets including Bloomberg, CNN, Wired, Business Insider, the New York Times and the Associated Press.

• FAQ: Google announced 10 years of software updates for Chromebooks — Until recently, Google would stop offering tech support for Chromebooks after just a few years — regardless of how well they still worked — at a point tech experts call a “death date.” In response to our campaign, Google has committed to 10-year lifespans for Chromebooks, the inexpensive laptops that so many school districts purchase for and give to their students.

College textbook and course materials advice

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Dan (prono: Dawn) Xie, [email protected], is the political director for the Student PIRGs, student-run organizations on dozens of campuses. Dan is working with college students coast-to-coast to reform the broken textbook market, where the default is often to automatically charge students for course materials at a set price, whether that’s a good deal for them or not.

• TIP GUIDE FOR PARENTS, STUDENTS: How to save money on textbooks this new school year — Publishers, colleges and bookstores claim “automatic textbook billing” or “inclusive access” programs save students money. But textbook and course material prices have increased at three times the rate of inflation since 1978. Publishers now bundle online access codes with required homework assignments, thereby reducing both student choice and market competition. This guide helps parents and students navigate this byzantine system.

Environmentally conscious back-to-school advice

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Celeste Meiffren-Swango, [email protected], runs Environment America’s Beyond Plastics campaign. She and her team have worked on awareness of — and regulation against — the dangers of microplastics, single-use plastics and waste in the fashion industry. She is also the author of the children’s book, Myrtle the Turtle, which empowers kids to prevent plastic pollution. Celeste’s work to reduce plastic has been covered by The Washington Post, Grist, E&E News and other media outlets.

• Green schools guide — The best way to teach children to value our planet is by example. Parents, teachers, and mentors can be environmentalist role models in many ways, from pushing for political action on climate change to buying less stuff. Parents, teachers, staff and students can use this guide to get kids involved and to make their schools more eco-friendly. The guide shows schools how to reduce pollution from transportation and electricity, waste less food and extend the life of school supplies.
• How to save money and cut down on waste while back-to-school shopping — From school supplies to new clothes, the average American family typically spends upwards of $600 per child on back-to-school needs. Not only does all this shopping have a cost to our pocketbooks, but it also imposes a cost on our environment. Despite what pervasive advertisements tell us, you have options that don’t involve buying all-new school supplies and clothes every back-to-school season. Buying things secondhand or simply not buying things your kids don’t need can save money and also can help conserve precious natural resources.