After a year of prolonged school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, California’s educators have been hard at work readying to open to full-time, in-person learning across the state.

Schools face falling enrollment and learning loss that will impact schoolchildren for years to come, making successful reopening essential to regain lost ground.

Schools face falling enrollment and learning loss that will impact schoolchildren for years to come, making successful reopening essential to regain lost ground.

While Gov. Gavin Newsom expects 99% of schools to reopen to full-time in-person learning in August, schools may be derailed by an entirely different calamity threatening children’s access to a stable education: worsening wildfires due to climate change.

Wildfire smoke threatens children’s health. Breathing toxic pollution from wildfires is roughly 10 times more dangerous for children when measured against comparable air pollution from other sources.

The fine, inhalable particles found in wildfire smoke, called PM2.5, can cause increased emergency room visits for asthma and increased upper respiratory infections in children.

Long-term studies on wildfire smoke in children is currently lacking, but we know from data on firefighters that repeated exposure results in higher lung cancer rates and greater risk of death from heart attacks and stroke.

Before the pandemic, schoolchildren in California had started to miss an increasing number of school days due to wildfires. Schools close for evacuation or because they lack the protocols and infrastructure to keep indoor air quality safe during poor air quality days.

The state has increased infrastructure investments in schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic that could be beneficial for schools’ wildfires readiness as well, but substantially more funding and support will be needed to help schools navigate the worsening threats of climate change.

Read the full article about wading through wildfire smoke and COVID-19 at EdSource.