Clean Air Ambassador Spotlight: Little Star Montessori School / Erin Clark
Little Star Montessori / Erin Clark - Office & Finance Manager
What motivated you to become a clean air ambassador? We had some connections with Clean Air Ambassadors and those ambassadors reached out to us. We believed having a sensor is important for the health of the children. It is extremely important to provide a safe environment for children and clean air is part of that. Wildfires are common during the summer, and we want to be able to monitor how that impacts the children outside.
How does air quality impact you? Summer is the key time- it’s wildfire season. We have air filtration in the building year-round, but if the air quality is bad, we have smaller air filters to put in the classrooms. To support families, we need to operate year-round, regardless of air quality. Being outside is important for children to learn and grow. We want the kids to be outside as much as they can, but we want to keep them healthy. We follow the Department of Health and Clean Air Methow’s guidance to see how much time is safe to be outside. Children are part of the sensitive group, so we want to modify the amount of time they can be outside based on the air quality.
How often do you check the purple air sensor map? During wildfire season we keep an eye on it all day. Air quality changes depending on wind and other surrounding fires, making it so that we monitor it frequently. If we hear about stagnant air, we will also check the map. We also use the map to check our sensor to ensure it is reporting correctly.
What do you do with the information from the sensor? We use the information to regulate how much time the kids can spend outside. Being outside is very important for the kids’ growth and brain stimulation, so we want them to be outside as much as healthy. We also use the information to check our indoor air, making sure to ramp up the use of air filters if needed.
Do you have any visions for what the future of the ambassador program will be, what do you think is most important we need to do? One thing that would be great for the school would be an age-appropriate presentation on air quality for the kids. Helping them understand air quality when they are young would be a great way to have smoke-conscious adults later in life. The kids love engaging with people and would have a lot of fun. We want the program to keep up its great work because we are really benefiting from it and are very appreciative.
What do you do for fun when the air quality is bad? Personally, I love board games, especially nerdy modern strategy board games. I try to find ways to exercise indoors. I also like going outside masked for limited amounts of time, depending on the recorded air quality. For the kids, we are very lucky to have many creative materials indoors. They love to do imaginative play and full-class play. They also utilize the kitchen more, put on plays, and do more reading. We are lucky that we are next to the new Winthrop Library, so we likely will also make our escape there some days.