Valley air hazard continues

PALMER -- Windblown dust has caused nearly a week's worth of unhealthy air on the east end of the Matanuska Valley. It's also caused a week's worth of indoor recess at Sherrod Elementary School.

"We've kept them in since Tuesday, which was really difficult because last week was also testing week for bench-marks and Terra Nova tests," Sherrod Principal Mark Hoffman said.

Federal regulations spawned by the No Child Left Behind Act require elementary schools to have 95 percent attendance for standardized tests, according to Hoffman, who said that several Sherrod students missed their tests last week.

"I think we're going to be OK, but I'm making up 30 children's tests as we speak. Some of those may not be dust-related, but I'm certain that some of them are," Hoffman said.

The state of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation maintains a dust monitoring station near Bodenburg Butte. The DEC station reported unhealthy particulate levels every day since last Wednesday.

"Part of the dust is, of course, related to road dust, gravel pits and other construction sites, but most is off the glaciers and the river beds. There's not much we can do about it, and it's been made worse this year because of the lack of snow," Beth McKibben of the Mat-Su Borough Planning Department said.

The borough maintains an air quality alert hotline that is updated every 24 hours based on conditions recorded by the DEC monitoring station. The Mat-Su Borough issued a press release Monday morning that said particulate levels are assumed to be the worst near Bodenburg Butte, but air quality alerts from the monitoring station may apply to areas as far away as Wasilla, depending on wind direction and speed.

Elderly people, children and people with heart or respiratory ailments should avoid outdoor activity or any prolonged physical exertion, the press release said. The general population should avoid vigorous outdoor activity.

Hoffman said parents of Sherrod Elementary students are pretty aware of the dust problem and are conscientious about limiting their child's exposure to dust.

"If you live in Palmer, you know about it," Hoffman said. "We do have many more parents that drive their kids to school on days like this than on normal days, probably twice as many, I would say. They are choosing not to let their children stand and wait at bus stops."

Of the 441 children who attend Sherrod, 25 have inhalers managed by the nurses office, according to Hoffman. The school district can arrange to bus students who live within walking distance of their school if the student is at-risk due to asthma or another ailment, Hoffman said.