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Union adopts ‘better safe than sorry’ approach on PCBs in schools
Apr 10, 2008 10:04 AM
Concerned staff members at PS 199, Manhattan, at a March 31 meeting with union officials and environmental experts.
In the wake of concerns raised by an April 7 front-page Daily News story about PCBs in school-building exterior caulking, UFT President Randi Weingarten called on Chancellor Joel Klein, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Thomas Frieden and Sharon Greenberger at the School Construction Authority to immediately take a series of steps to mitigate the potential risk to students and staff.
“While we know there are few studies regarding long-term exposure to PCBs, the union takes a ‘better safe than sorry’ approach to such safety matters affecting kids and staff,” Weingarten said.
The first step, Weingarten said, should be to conduct a survey of the condition of caulking in schools built prior to 1980. She also urged the city Department of Education and the other agencies at the city, state and federal levels to develop a coordinated response in implementing a uniform PCB standard that everyone follows.
“The prudent course of action is to make sure there is no route of exposure to PCBs, but we do not want to see school communities endangered or disrupted through a hasty assessment and removal of PCB building materials,” said Weingarten. “We urge all of the relevant agencies to adhere to a coordinated inspection, monitoring, removal and replacement program. In the meantime, we also are calling on the DOE to follow asbestos abatement protocols in addressing the PCB issue.”
On April 4, three days before the story broke in the Daily News, Weingarten sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking it to take responsibility over the issue so that the presence of PCBs in schools does not become a risk to students and staff. She asked the EPA “to develop and promulgate” clear, detailed protocols for the inspection, environmental investigation and testing, removal and disposal of PCB caulk.
The Daily News was very responsible in its coverage of this issue. The newspaper’s reporter notified the union that samples of exterior caulking at eight schools contained PCBs. Immediately upon being notified, the union asked the DOE to send independent consultants to each school to do an assessment. The assessment included an inspection of the condition of the exterior caulk and facade as well as environmental sampling. With the exception of one sample, the independent consultants found levels of PCB below the federal safety standard. The union, however, insisted that cleaning be done in all areas where any PCBs were detected in these schools.
Discussing the situation after the meeting are (from left) Chris D’Andrea of the New York City Department of Health, MS 243 Principal Elaine Schwartz (whose school shares the building with PS 199), UFT industrial hygienist Chris Proctor, PS 199 Chapter Leader Peter Rockwitz, District 3 Representative Michael McCourt and Manhattan Borough Representative Robert Astrowsky.
Via its weekly e-mail update, the union also kept chapter leaders informed about the potential PCB problem at the eight schools and any other school that was built or renovated between 1950 and 1980.
On April 3, Weingarten visited PS 199 in Manhattan where the School Construction Authority had just conducted a window removal and replacement job. She heard from a livid chapter leader and principal who both said they were misled by representatives of the SCA at the launch of the project, when both were told that there was no asbestos abatement needed at the school.
“What was not disclosed,” said Katy Rosen, the principal, “was the possible presence of PCBs.” She said that the protocols for removing PCBs should have been followed and weren’t.
The window replacement job at PS 199 created widespread caulk dust. “Parents and teachers volunteered to do the clean-up and students also helped to clean, having no idea that this stuff could be dangerous,” said Chapter Leader Peter Rockwitz.
Rockwitz told Weingarten that angry parents wanted their kids tested. “We got no real answers from the DOE,” Rockwitz said. “I’m infuriated.”
During her visit to PS 199, Weingarten toured the school, inspected the windows and then took steps to ensure that the building was cleaned appropriately. Two days later, the SCA sent in a crew of workers to clean the school.
Weingarten called on Klein to include the removal of PCB exterior caulk as part of the city’s long-term capital plan.
“The city budget should include any available federal, state or city funding to pay for the removal of PCB caulk where necessary once the scope and cost of such a project can be determined,” she said.
Weingarten also urged Klein to create a Division of School Facilities/School Construction Authority response and assessment unit that can immediately investigate reports of damaged PCB caulk in schools.
“This could be akin to ‘flying squads’ used to swiftly investigate reports of asbestos contamination,” said Weingarten. “This would go a long way toward alleviating the fears and concerns of parents, students and educators.”
DOE officials said that their policy was not to seek out and remove the caulking in the 266 schools where PCBs may be present.
“We’re going to take out the caulk whenever there’s any renovation work being done in the school, and if we discover in other ways if there’s any determination of damaging levels,” said DOE spokesman David Cantor.
See “Caulk fact sheet” below.
