The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) issued a spare the air, and health advisory for the Bay Area, confirming the unhealthy air quality is likely to remain through Wednesday “as onshore winds are forecast to develop and push smoke eastward across Napa County and Solano County.”
Poor air quality across the region late last week forced districts to shutter schools, including the Vallejo City Unified School District.
VCUSD Superintendent Adam Clark declared schools closed Thursday and Friday last week and Monday this week.
Clark said VCUSD schools were back in session on Tuesday but due to the reappearance of the poor air, he directed schools to limit student activities outside and for staff to monitor students who suffer from asthma and other respiratory issues.
The superintendent said his administration follows the Air Quality Index distributed by the BAAQMD. The index lists six different levels of health concerns, ranging from “Good” through “Hazardous.”
Clark said that each day district officials check the reported air quality levels. Anything past Tuesday’s levels would warrant rainy day policies — students not allowed to eat lunch, or do activities outside — or a shelter in place.
Also closed on Thursday and Friday of last week, Mare Island Technology Academy re-opened on Monday. However, Tuesday’s poor air quality forced the charter school to take precautionary measures including cancelling physical education, outdoor lunch, and sports for the day, according to an email sent to the parent community from MIT director Matt Smith.
Smith stated MIT would be open on Wednesday.
“As always, parents have the option to keep their kids at home if they so choose,” Smith wrote. “We are looking forward to steady, if uneven, improvement of the air quality over the next several days.”
St. Patrick-St. Vincent is dealing with the air quality and its school’s athletic activities day-by-day. Although school was in session on Monday and Tuesday, the school did not have any teams practice or play any games on Tuesday, athletic director Lane Hawkins said.
Meanwhile, outdoor activities were also curtailed at the Benicia Unified School District on Tuesday due to the quality of the air.
Unhealthy air quality prompted Napa Valley Unified School District officials to announce students will not be going back to school until Monday, Oct. 23, at the earliest, according to the district’s website.
“Here’s why,” they said. “We committed to making attendance decisions based on air quality, and the forecast for the week continues to include periods in the red (unhealthy) and purple (very unhealthy) zones. There is just too much variability in air quality to be confident for an entire school day.
We are committed to getting students back in school as quickly as possible, but only when the air quality situation is more reliably orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) or better.”
District staff will get additional information through their usual communication channels, they said.
“Student and staff safety is the highest priority for NCOE and the five Napa County school districts,” said Napa County Superintendent of Schools Barbara Nemko. “These guidelines will ensure we are making consistent and safe choices. The Emergency Air Quality Guidelines have been created specifically for this fire event, acknowledging that it is ongoing and will have cumulative effects.”
For more on how the air quality is affecting sports in the area, see related story on B1.
Times-Herald sports writer Thomas Gase contributed to this report.
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