Letter from PA Attorney Richard Ben-Veniste to Deputy Chancellor Klasfeld - 6/21/02
From: Richard Ben-Veniste
MAYER, BROWN, ROWE & MAW
1909 K STREET, N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006-1101
VIA FACSIMILE AND FIRST CLASS MAIL
To: David Klasfeld
Deputy Chancellor for Operations
N.Y.C. Board of Education
110 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Re: Stuyvesant High School
Dear Mr. Klasfeld:
We are in receipt of your letter dated June 17, 2002.
We are disappointed by your continued temporizing in the face of the obvious need to clean the ducts and unit ventilators. Considering the unreasonably high levels of lead discovered in the testing, there is no question but that remedial action must be taken promptly.
We have confirmed with Brad Gair of FEMA together with a number of his colleagues in a conference call on June 13, in which representatives of Congressman Nadler's staff also participated, that FEMA is willing to cover the costs of cleaning the ducts and ventilators so long as the Board of Education requests that it do so. Notwithstanding the results of the testing and FEMA's reiteration of its commitment, you propose to further study the situation before making a decision as to whether to clean the ducts and unit ventilators. We find further delay without a commitment from you to do the remediation to be unacceptable. Resolution of this issue has already been unnecessarily delayed by your failure to provide the test results to us in a timely manner. Despite the fact that the lead tests were conducted on April 27, and despite the fact that the results for tests for lead are typically available 24 to 48 hours after the tests are conducted, you did not release the results to us until June 10, over six weeks later. Further delay will only serve to put in question the BOE's resolve and ability to perform the necessary remediation prior to Stuyvesant's reopening in the fall. It is simply unacceptable to expose the children of our client to further risk of exposure to toxic substances after their return to the school next fall.
For the above reasons, as well as the reasons discussed in our prior correspondence with you and with Mr. Craig Levine, the PA can no longer abide the BOE's refusal to commit to performing the necessary remediation. You should be disabused of any notion you may have regarding the PA's resolve to resort to judicial process, if necessary, because of the election of new officers. Accordingly, after consultation with both the outgoing and incoming officers of the PA, unless we receive BOE's commitment to (1) clean the unit ventilators over the summer recess, and (2) to advocate with FEMA for reimbursement for cleaning the ducts, with a plan to clean the ducts over the summer, we will file suit next week to compel the BOE to remediate the environmental problems at Stuyvesant. We ask that we receive your commitment by close of business Monday, June 24.
The professional cleaning should conform to the guidelines proposed by our expert, which are attached to this letter. Following these guidelines will ensure that the cleaning is effective and performed in the safest manner possible.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours, Richard Ben-Veniste
cc: Craig Levine, Director of Special Projects, Office of the Chancellor
Marilena Christodoulou, President, Stuyvesant High School Parents' Association
Dale Bernstein, Co-president-elect, Stuyvesant High School Parents' Association
Judy Moore, Co-president-elect, Stuyvesant High School Parents' Association
H. A. Bader, H. A. Bader Consultants, Inc., Environmental Consulting Engineers
Michael Cardozo, Esq., Office of Corporate Counsel
Jonathan Shiffman, Esq., Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw
