Air quality policies not hazy

Prep sports: Hart district says high schools have authority to hold, cancel or modify practices at own discretion

A shift took place roughly five years ago at the William S. Hart Union High School District, one dealing with a safety issue likely on the minds of parents across the Santa Clarita Valley in light of the Sand fire.

The district gave responsibility for deciding the status of practices in relation to air quality to the individual schools.

District principals or designees, according to Hart director of human resources and equity services Greg Lee, have the authority in most situations to hold, cancel or modify practice.

“The District may also unilaterally direct schools to modify or suspend activities,” Lee said via text message. “Sites are supposed to be guided by the county bulletins on air and heat conditions.”

The county’s bulletins take into account data from the South Coast Air Quality Management District and remove much of the guesswork in decision-making on air quality and heat. The reports delve into specifics on who should or

shouldn’t be outside and what they should be doing if they are out there.

A July 23 county smoke advisory for areas including the Santa Clarita Valley reads, “We are also advising schools that are in session in smoke-impacted areas to suspend outside physical activities in these areas, including physical education and after-school sports, until conditions improve,” said Los Angeles County Interim Health Officer Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser.

In a less-stringent bulletin Thursday, Gunzenhauser advised people in the Santa Clarita Valley “with heart disease,

Our first priority is student safety. We’re always going to err on the side of caution whether we’re in summer or in season.”

Derek Rusk,

Canyon High co-athletic director,

asthma or other respiratory diseases to minimize outdoor activities.”

The advisories vary. So it’s important to note that principals and designees (the assistant principal in charge of athletics and/or the athletic director) aren’t locked into a choice of holding or canceling practice.

They — and logically their coaches — can alter practice to fit the conditions.

On a particularly hot day, a football team might practice in shorts and helmets, without shoulder pads.

If air quality is poor in the morning, a cross country practice might be moved to the evening or to a location outside the valley.

During the summer, Hart High co-Athletic Director Linda Peckham oversees weather situations, but she trusts that her outdoor coaches are also monitoring the air quality and reacting appropriately.

That is something Hart cross country coach Larry David says he’s become adept at over 26 years of coaching in the valley.

“In the end, if it’s obviously unhealthy for everybody,” David said, “... and it’s that way all over or in the area we’re going to be training, obviously, we just shut down.

“Otherwise, it’s do what you can or try to get in a workout that’s not

going to affect them negatively.”

That’s one reason the district wants schools to make their own decisions: Someone on-location can judge air quality more accurately, and up to the minute, than district personnel in an office on Centre Pointe Parkway.

Another reason for the policy is that the district doesn’t want schools waiting for a decision from one person who may or may not, especially during the summer, be in the office.

Athletic directors, though, are on campus during the summer athletic camps, Lee said.

“Our first priority is student safety,” said Canyon High co-Athletic Director Derek Rusk. “We’re always going to err on the side of caution whether we’re in summer or in season.”

Golden Valley High made the decision Tuesday to cancel football practice due to air quality concerns.

“Honestly, we just made the decision we thought was best for our kids,” said co-Athletic Director Mike Edwards, adding that decisions on practice were day-to-day and involved monitoring air quality online.

The district can step in and make a unilateral decision, but that would likely be in “extraordinary” circumstances, Lee said.

“(In that case) we don’t ask, don’t suggest,” Lee said. “We say all activities (are on or off).”