Air Quality

Bellingham Public Schools monitors outside air quality (AQ) regularly and refers to guidance from the Washington Children and Youth Activities Guide for Air Quality from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH). This guidance helps us decide what steps to take for continuing, modifying, or cancelling outdoor activities during and outside of the school day, such as outdoor recess, outdoor classes, other outdoor activities, and/or athletics practices and competitions.

We use airnow.gov and fire.airnow.gov as resources to monitor air quality across our 100-square-mile school district.  Air quality is dynamic, can change quickly, and can be different in different parts of our community. Families, please make sure your contact information is up-to-date so that our coaches, advisers, schools and district staff can use our communication tools such as ParentSquare to quickly communicate changes if necessary.

We recognize the importance of outdoor activities and play to enrich the lives of students. We also recognize our responsibility to support and maintain students’ health and to refer to guidance from our state health experts.

• Green: Activities continue as planned.
• Yellow: Activities continue, with accommodations made as needed for those with health conditions or concerns.
• Orange: Activities may continue with modifications, may be cancelled or may be moved to a different location or indoors. School teams work together with health services and other district leaders to decide and communicate regarding outdoor sports practices and contests.
• Red: Activities may be moved, if possible, or cancelled. School teams work together with health services and other district leaders to decide and communicate regarding outdoor sports practices and contests.