Preliminary tests show that when parents drop off or pick up their children from school, the air quality in the immediate area changes.
The tests were conducted at Fisher Middle School and Blossom Hill Elementary School during a two-week period as part of the town-wide observance of Safe Routes to School Week. In addition to encouraging people to drive safely when they're around schools, parents are asked to use carpools during SR2S Week, while students are encouraged to walk, bike or skateboard to school.
The first tests were done during the week of Oct. 18, when there was not a push on for parents and students to use alternative methods to get to school. Testing results from that week will be compared with results from the week of Oct. 23, when SR2S was going on.
Fifth-grader Olivia had a key role in the testing that was done at Blossom Hill. "I'm measuring hydrocarbons and ozone particles," Olivia said. "Every minute I write down a reading."
"It's getting higher when all the cars come in," fifth-grader Sara added.
For example, at 7:40 a.m. the students recorded a 3.2 reading. By 7:56 a.m. the reading was up to 3.9, climbing to 5.7 by 8:02 a.m.
"It got up to 11 last week because it was warmer and more people were driving," fourth-grader Casey said. "When the temperature is colder or it rains, it's lower. The rain cleans the air out."
The air samples are still being analyzed, but when both sets are available the kids will write a report on their findings.
Ashtead Technologies of Chicago donated the ozone analyzer and Torrent Laboratories of Milpitas is doing the lab analyses for free. The testing was coordinated by Benchmark Environmental of San Jose.
"We get instant readings from the ozone machine, but the analysis of automobile combustion has to be analyzed in a lab," Benchmark's Wendy Buller explained. "Then we'll compare the schools' ozone levels to Bay Area Air Quality Management District readings. Every hour on the hour the BAAQMD takes a sampling. That's how they know when to declare Spare the Air Days."
The BAAQMD equipment is located at the University Avenue fire station.
The students turned the air testing program into a mini science project, documenting what was being done every step of the way. "We've been taking pictures of what people have been doing," fifth-grader Peyton said. They also learned about the chain of custody that goes along with conducting experiments.
In addition to the donation of time and equipment, the Los Gatos SR2S committee received a $1,000 grant for the program from the National Center for Safe Routes to School.