Air Quality Flags

How much pollution is in the air today? You can find out by simply looking at the flag pole. Our school, Brentwood School of Environmental Studies, has adopted the Air Quality Flag Program which means we will fly brightly colored flags to show how clean the air is each day. 

The flags correspond to the colors of the Air Quality Index (www.airnow.gov). The AQI is an index for reporting daily air quality. It tells you how clean or polluted your air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for you. Every school day we fly a flag with one of the following colors: 

Color

AQI Index Value

Level of Health Concern

Green

0-50

GOOD

Yellow

51-100

MODERATE

Orange

101-150

UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS

Red

151-200

UNHEALTHY

Purple

201-300

VERY UNHEALTHY

The good news is the Air Quality Flag Program helps protect students’ health. On green and yellow days we will encourage students to be outside and moving. When air quality is orange or red, it is still OK to play outside, but we will encourage kids to take some breaks and to do activities that might involve walking and jogging instead of running and sprinting. If the flag is purple, we will play inside that day. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is promoting the Air Quality Flag Program to schools in many U.S. cities and we are proud to be involved. 

For more information on the Flag Program, go to www.airnow.gov/flag