Air Quality Flag Program Overview

Roosevelt District
Schools located in the Roosevelt School District were the first in Arizona to implement an innovative Air Quality Flag Program which monitors and informs students, parents and community members about daily air quality that may impact health. This program was patterned after a highly successful program that has been in operation for several years in the San Joaquin Valley and has recently received national attention on CBS Nightly News. For more information on the San Joaquin Valley program go to Valley Air and Central California Branch of the American Lung Association websites.

In May of 2006 private donations provided the funding to purchase flags to implement a small pilot project in six Roosevelt District Schools. Through the summer additional sponsorships were obtained and the program was implemented in all twenty one (21) schools and the district office in the Roosevelt School District serving over 10,000 children.

The program operated by Maricopa County Asthma Coalition in partnership with Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Roosevelt School District and Steele Children’s Research Center is developing a model program that can be used by all school districts in the valley. Information contained on this web-site will allow schools across the valley to access the program implementation information and associated parent, child, teacher and staff educational materials to implement the Flag Program.

Implement the Program in Your School
With the completion of this web-site the Coalition is ready to expand to other schools across the valley. Air Quality is a valley-wide issue therefore it is our goal to have flags flying in every school in Maricopa County within the next three years. To expedite the process we would prefer to work directly with school districts and implement the program district wide to reach largest number of schools and children. At this time we have a limited amount of funding to provide schools with flags, toolkits, program materials and training necessary to implement the program. Schools are required to sign the following agreement to participate in the program. For more information contact Cecile Fowler cfowler@phoenixchildrens.com

Air Quality Flag Program Agreement
The opportunity for schools to participate in the program is contingent on the ability to commit in writing to the following conditions. Participating schools will be selected based in part on their commitment to these conditions, community need and historical air pollution levels for their area.

School District and/or participating school(s) will commit to:

• Raise the appropriate air quality flag daily under the Arizona State Flag

• Commit at least two staff from each school to participate in a two hour train the trainer program and then conduct trainings for staff of the participating school.

• Require teacher participation in a program training (20 minutes)

• Encourage student and parents to participate in educational sessions

• Disseminate educational materials and inform students and parents of the program provided by the Maricopa County Asthma Coalition

• Sign up key staff to receive daily air quality information by e-mail and set up a procedure to insure that the appropriate flag is raised daily.

• Inform Maricopa County Asthma Coalition of any flag replacement needs

Maricopa County Asthma Coalition will provide:

• A set of colored flags corresponding to the levels on the Air Quality Index (AQI)

• Conduct train-the-trainer programs for school representatives and support the schools in training administrators, teachers, staff, students and parents to understand the health implications, risks and recommended protective measures associated with the levels of the AQI and the corresponding flags.

• Provide easy to understand, age and culturally appropriate educational materials for students in English and Spanish.

• Insure that program materials are readily available to school on the internet at www.letusbreathe.org.

• Assistance for the schools in obtaining and understanding the daily air quality reports and forecast.

Steps for Implementation

1. Commitment of the superintendent and school board to participate in the program.

2. Initial meeting between schools district and flag program staff to discuss implementation in the district and to develop an implementation plan.

3. Secure funding to purchase the flags for each school. Currently funding is available to expand to at least 60 additional schools.

4. Initial meetings with principals, assistant principals, nurses, office and custodian staff to explain the program and develop procedure for raising the flag each day.

5. Adopt an Air Quality Flag Procedure for your school district and make sure that all staff are aware of and understand this procedure.
   Insure that key staff persons from each school are set up on the Air Quality Flag Program e-mail list and the daily air quality forecast to receive information regarding daily air quality. Set up a procedure to inform person responsible for raising the flags of the color for the day.

6. Send out letters to each parent to inform them about the program.

7. Schedule a Train-the-Trainer program for your school district and insure at least two staff members from each school attend.

8. Have staff members that have attended the Train-the-Trainer program conduct training for all staff at each of the school site either through a regularly scheduled training or a regular staff training meeting.

9. Collaborate with the Coalition in conducting Parent Information Events either through the Parent Teacher Organizations or other formats to insure parents understand the program and the connection between air quality and their children’s health.

For more information and resources to implement the program:

Remember that Breathing is not optional

Through you implementation of this program you can help raise awareness about the affects of air quality on our children’s health and what steps each of us can take to clean up our air.