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Table showing AUSD protocols in response to various AQIs

   

Air quality in our region often worsens during the fall, when wildfire smoke drifts into the Bay Area from other regions. Over the last several years, AUSD has developed protocols for responding to various levels of air quality that are likely to occur here. Those protocols include:

  • Monitoring air quality carefully and continually when there are forecasts of wildfire smoke. 
  • Tracking air quality via several sources, including AirNow (US EPA) and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
  • Following statewide guidance prepared by a working group of leaders from education, air quality, and public health to determine how we adjust school activities – especially lunch, recess, PE, and athletic practices and sports – in response to the "air quality index" (AQI). Those protocols are described in the table below.
chart of protocols for varying air quality levels
  • Maintaining improved ventilation at our school sites via MERV-13 HVAC filters and HEPA air purifiers. Please note that these  filter out the particulates from smoke but not the smell of smoke.  
  • Providing N95 or KN95 masks to protect against wildfire smoke. As a reminder: all of our school sites have N95 masks in the front office for any student or staff member who needs one.


We encourage all families to monitor air quality when wildfire smoke is in the region and look for communications from their school principals and our District Office to keep abreast of current status and activity changes.