High Pollution Advisory Alerts and Guidance for Schools

About the Program

Category: Civic Education and Public Information (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

While school districts typically have plans in place to address a variety of events that may impact the safety, health and welfare of students including heat advisory policies, there are no equivalent precautions to address altering outside behavior during High Pollution Advisory (HPA) days. School districts are accustomed to diverting outdoor activities indoors during excessive heat days. There are specific actions that schools are advised to take during these alerts. However, although school districts and schools may be aware of HPA days, there were no specific action steps identified to prevent student and staff exposure to these air pollutants. The Maricopa County Air Quality Department (MCAQD) worked closely with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to develop High Pollution Advisory Alerts which is an electronic notification process that notifies schools when a HPA day has been issued. Because schools may have a limited understanding of HPAs and related health effects, MCAQD also created an introductory letter coupled with a document listing specific actions schools should take in response. Every time a HPA is issued, schools are emailed a one-page HPA alert with the action guidance document attached. In April 2016, after six months of close collaboration, MCAQD disseminated the introductory messages to more than 300 school administrators, school health contacts, and other district and school personnel using distribution lists provided by MCDPH’s heat advisory program. A few days later, the county experienced its first HPA day of the year and was able to send the alert along with the specific action guide to the contacts at the schools. MCAQD’s High Pollution Advisory Alerts and Guidance for Schools project informs, educates, and provides specific actionable steps to county school nurses, health aides and school administrators – protecting the health of over 700,000 students in Maricopa County.