YEAR-END REPORT
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE
STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL PARENTS' ASSOCIATION
June 20, 2002
The Parents' Association has been working diligently since September 11 to
ensure that our children receive a quality education in a safe and healthful environment. The PA's Environmental Health and Safety Committee was established at that time to negotiate protective measures with the Board of Education, to monitor environmental health concerns, and to keep the PA Executive Board and the general membership informed. Members of the committee are parents who have expertise in relevant fields and include a physician, an architect, and an industrial hygienist.
We are proud to report that the Environmental Health and Safety Committee (EHSC) has achieved a number of significant successes over the course of the school year, achievements that both empower parents and protect our children and the Stuyvesant community. The EHSC:
- Conducted asbestos sampling at Stuyvesant shortly after evacuation.
- Helped persuade the BOE to conduct an asbestos abatement prior to the return to school.
- Assisted the PA in retaining its own independent environmental expert.
- Negotiated environmental sampling protocols with the BOE.
- Had the pool drained and cleaned.
- Monitored environmental sampling results and posted all results, with explanations, on the PA web site.
- Provided verbal updates at every PA Executive Board meeting and every PA general meeting.
- Sent parents 6 written reports, including this one, over the course of the school year.
- Organized presentations at PA meetings by over 20 environmental and medical experts of varying opinions, including speakers from US EPA, NYC OEM, NYC BOE, NYC DOH, NYU, Columbia University, and Hunter College.
- Conducted a confidential health survey which found that 2/3 of the children of the several hundred parents who responded had developed new illness since returning to school.
- Retained an independent engineer to evaluate the effectiveness of the school's mechanical ventilation systems.
- Won a partial upgrade of filtration in the mechanical ventilation systems.
- Working with other downtown schools, politicians, and community groups, won a complete shutdown of the barge operation adjacent to Stuyvesant.
- With the support of congressman Jerrold Nadler and other elected political representatives, helped broker an agreement for FEMA to reimburse BOE for monitoring and cleanup expenses already incurred and to pay for cleaning ductwork and unit ventilators and for upgrading filters.
- With the support of Senator Hillary Clinton, helped lay the groundwork for what we hope will be a medical registry and health surveillance system that will eventually include Stuyvesant students and staff.
Unfortunately, much work remains to be done to ensure that Stuyvesant provides a safe and healthful environment for everyone:
- Mechanical ventilation systems, which should have been cleaned as part of the asbestos abatement last October, still have not been cleaned. The duct work and unit ventilators must be cleaned this summer. Environmental sampling results in ducts and unit ventilators from late April show lead dust at 2 to 30 times EPA regulatory guidelines. (These results were withheld by BOE for 6 weeks and released to the PA only under threat of litigation.)
- BOE must provide a full account of which areas of the school have been abated and which have not. For example, we found out only a couple of weeks ago that seats in the theater have never been HEPA vacuumed.
- Filters must be upgraded from the present 40% efficiency to at least the 85% efficiency achieved at Borough of Manhattan College across the street. Since FEMA has agreed to pay for the upgrade, it may be possible to upgrade to HEPA and activated charcoal filters. This work can be accomplished most efficiently and safely during the summer recess.
This urgent and vital work remains the task the Environmental Health and Safety Committee, of all Stuy parents, and of the new PA leadership.
This report would be incomplete without addressing our experience with the Board of Education over the last 9 months. It must be noted that our relationship with BOE has too often been contentious. We were disappointed and frustrated that BOE officials repeatedly refused to acknowledge the potential for student exposure to toxic contaminants in the school. It has been our unfortunate experience that many of the times that we relied on BOE promises they turned out to be false and that many of our achievements have been won only by applying external pressure. While we will continue to strive for a mutually respectful and productive relationship with BOE on environmental health issues in the future, we caution parents not to confuse BOE assurances with actual deeds.
As this report is written, BOE has reneged on the agreement reached on June 3, 2002 through Congressman Nadler's office to clean the ducts and unit ventilators this summer and to upgrade the filters. Since the PA voted overwhelmingly at its April general meeting to authorize litigation to cause BOE to clean the ducts and the unit ventilators, this course of action looks increasingly likely.
We will be continuing our efforts during the summer and new school year. We thank all parents for your support this year and ask for your continued vigilance and support through the summer and over the next school year.
Sheldon Stachel, Chair
Richard Mack
David Newman
Dorothy Schuster
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