Air Quality & Recess at WMES

We know recess is an important part of a child's day. This includes the opportunity to play as well as find release from the pressures of being a student. We have 3 recess breaks scheduled throughout the day. Two that are 15 minutes and one that is 20 minutes in length. With the recent wildfires and increase smoke in our area, questions have arisen around the need  that WMES institute a guideline for outside recess with respect to air quality. This is a relatively new development for schools and LRSD currently has no policy in place for the school district. Like the "cold weather" guidelines we have in place, we will move forward with one for air quality. Although we hope that this will not factor in to many decisions for the rest of the year, we will be moving forward with the following.

Using the Alberta Air Quality Index as a reference, WMES will have an "indoor recess" and students will be required to stay inside if the Air Quality risk rating for our area is a 7 or greater. As we know Alberta weather can be a rapidly changing situation, and we will attempt to monitor as closely as possible to the times students are scheduled to be outside.

We will monitor this over the next while and revisit as a staff and bring forward to a future parent council for feedback.

As always, if parents have individual concerns for their own children, please connect with your child's teacher to make specific arrangements.