When is wildfire smoke too dangerous for kids' outdoor recess?

Wildfire smoke and poor air quality can have serious consequences for children’s health; however, not all school districts abide by the same rules when it comes to sending kids outside or staying inside for recess.

Imagine this: Two schools 5 miles apart are engulfed in the exact same cloud of wildfire smoke. At 11 a.m., one principal calls recess indoors. The other sends kids out to the playground.

Who decides when the air is too harmful for children?

The reason is that when it comes to air quality, there are recommendations, but no clear-cut national mandates that school districts have to abide by when it comes to air quality and outdoor time.

(MORE: What you're actually breathing in wildfire smoke)

The federal government and several states have published detailed air quality guidelines for schools, but in most places, they are entirely optional. That leaves the decision of when to pull kids inside up to individual principals or district superintendents, creating a patchwork of policies that many parents have never seen.

The stakes for those decisions are higher than you might realize. Wildfire smoke is particularly dangerous for children because their lungs are still developing and they breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults do. Studies show that fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke can be up to 10 times more harmful to children's respiratory health than pollution from other sources.

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(MORE: Here's what really protects you from wildfire smoke)

To manage that risk, this is what the EPA’s baseline guidance recommends:

• An Air Quality Index (AQI) between 101–150 or "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups,” schools should dial back intense athletic practices. 
• An AQI between 151–200 or "Unhealthy,” schools should consider moving longer activities indoors. 
• An AQI of 201 and above, everything should move inside.

Some states go even further. The California Department of Education explicitly states that any time the AQI is above 100, all children are considered sensitive and should come inside for recess and P.E. Oregon’s health department will pull kids indoors for an AQI above 150.

Enforcement varies wildly from state to state, district to district. So parents living in smoke-prone regions, you might need to ask specifically, “What is the exact AQI number that triggers indoor recess here, and who is responsible for checking the real-time forecast during the day?”