The San Mateo High School Union District closed its schools on Nov. 15 in response to the wildfire smoke of California wildfires.
“It was a tough call, and though I hate to disrupt learning like this, I believe we made the right choice when canceling school of Friday,” said Superintendent Kevin Skelly. “In fact, we cancelled after many schools that took the entire week to Thanksgiving off, and there is wisdom in crowds after all.”
According to ABC News, the two deadly wildfires in California have resulted in 87 deaths as of an estimate on Nov. 23. The amount of smoke drastically changed the air quality of San Mateo.
According to Airnow.gov, the Bay Area air quality index was upwards of 200, at very unhealthy levels. The air quality was comparable to, or even sometimes worse than places with notoriously bad air quality such as Beijing and Delhi.
The two deadly California fires had their origins in Chico and Ventura county, respectively. Spurred on by California’s strong autumnal winds, the fires blew out of control and burned 138,000 acres of land, including almost the entire city of Paradise, California. According to The New York Times, “More than 5,600 firefighters were still on the lines on … with 23 helicopters in the air and
630 fire engines were on the ground.” With that effort, the Woolsey fire was finally contained on Nov. 21.
The risk of smoke exposure has driven many students to abandon many of their outdoor extracurricular activity out of health concerns.
“In regards to extracurricular activities, the air quality convinced me to not go to swimming practice,” said junior Nicholas Finke. “Doing something which requires me to breathe harder than I already am just sounded like a bad idea.”
Students were advised to stay inside during days of worse smoke exposure, and a shelter in place protocol was enacted. Students were also advised by the Red Cross club to go purchase particulate respiratory masks, commonly denoted with N95 or P100, to protect their lungsfrom smoke particles.
Because of the recent prevalence of wildfires in California, SMUHSD has been considering the implementation of a new protocol for wildfires. These protocols would likely affect air filtration in schools, as well as the possibility of using school break days to make up missed days because of wildfires.
“In regards to a new policy for wildfires, we are currently discussing it,” Skelly said. “I know that schools have air filters, but I don’t know any of the details on what kind and am currently looking into the issue.”
According to Skelly, the missed day of school will not need to be made up at the end of the year or during any break.
