Anonymous wrote:yes so you can drive miles and miles providing even more pollution. This is really crazy. Air pollution does not concentrate in a one or two block area! If this OP is truly concerned about the local air pollution levels, needs to move somewhere else. There is no local school public or private that really has a significantly different level of air pollution.

You savvy DCUMs always are so smart, aren't you? Go ahead and believe what you would like, but the evidence about exercising NEXT TO busy roads (not just anywhere in this region) is out there.

http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/10/637.2.full

yes so you can drive miles and miles providing even more pollution. This is really crazy. Air pollution does not concentrate in a one or two block area! If this OP is truly concerned about the local air pollution levels, needs to move somewhere else. There is no local school public or private that really has a significantly different level of air pollution.

I hear some great private schools exist in Germantown and Herndon. Go for it! Enjoy the commute!

Home school your child in a delicate forest bower.

Go to Barrie or Sandy Spring Friends. Lots of lovely acres to breathe on.

Sidwell just sent a note reminding parents to turn off their cars during carpool to be respectful of the neighbors, the environment and the children. So you might want to eliminate any schools that also have a carpool line. The daily lineup might do even more harm then the passing cars.

Anonymous wrote:I have a DC with asthma. It is definitely something that we considered when looking at schools.

You should look at Norwood and Bullis. The difference between exhaust fumes at the school in DC proper is negligible.

I have a DC with asthma. It is definitely something that we considered when looking at schools.

This would be about 289 on my list of considerations for a school for my kids.

AQI is worse in the summer but kids aren't in school then. Is the pollution on Wisconsin Ave really that bad? As a parent of high schoolers who have played HS or club games at nearly every private school and many public schools I have to say it's not something I've ever thought about. Turf fields are probably a way worse health hazard and many schools have one of those.

It's also not a private school issue - plenty of public schools are in the city or near major highways. We've been to soccer games at Marshall HS and another Falls Church HS school right on Rt 7. BCC is in the middle of downtown Bethesda. RM is right off Rockville Pike. I am sure there are many more examples.

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has a playing field and tennis courts right on Wisc Ave, and St Alban's younger boys have recess right at the corner of Wisc and Mass. Maybe not a significant concern in the end, but when you are paying big bucks and making choices about what schools to attend, I think it is reasonable to consider where your child will be outdoors every day. Air pollution when exercising is hardly some quack health concern.

Great, don't send your kids to STA.

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell has a playing field and tennis courts right on Wisc Ave, and St Alban's younger boys have recess right at the corner of Wisc and Mass. Maybe not a significant concern in the end, but when you are paying big bucks and making choices about what schools to attend, I think it is reasonable to consider where your child will be outdoors every day. Air pollution when exercising is hardly some quack health concern.

You sound like you will be crazy about everything. Please don't come to our city school, there are many suburban alternatives for you.

Sidwell has a playing field and tennis courts right on Wisc Ave, and St Alban's younger boys have recess right at the corner of Wisc and Mass. Maybe not a significant concern in the end, but when you are paying big bucks and making choices about what schools to attend, I think it is reasonable to consider where your child will be outdoors every day. Air pollution when exercising is hardly some quack health concern.

The busy streets in NW DC Are Connecticut, Wisconsin and Mass Avenues and except for the Sidwell tennis courts, none of the schools have fields on these streets. Yeah, some are only a block removed, but pretty much every street in DC is going to be off one of the majors. In general, the studies express concern about MAJOR roadways -- like highways and streets like Wisconsin Avenue. And in a city like DC which has relatively low levels of pollution (except during days with certain weather conditions, during which kids should not be exercising outside anyway) it really isn't a concern.

OP you have an excellent point it is not really that healthy for kids to be breathing in exhaust fumes and high amounts of pollution but what exactly are the school supposed to do? Bus the kids to fields out in the country each day? It is not ideal to have your fields right next to busy streets but the schools are in the city and the schools have to make what they have work. What about the parks and fields throughout the city? the bikers and runners along the mall? Are we not to exercise sit on the couch in filtered air homes and all become obese because we live in a city?