Forget The Jets Game - Make Schools Safe From Bugs And Toxins

The Mayor of Money has been strutting his stuff over the Jets and according to the Daily News is asking the following:

Mayor Bloomberg on Tuesday asked New Yorkers for wager ideas ahead of Sunday's clash between the Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"The Jets are one game away from the Super Bowl, and we're betting on a win for Gang Green," Bloomberg said.

Fans should submit wager ideas through the Mayor's office Twitter feed @NYCMayorsOffice, using the hashtag "#JetsBet."

Here's an idea I have. How about win or lose, you make city schools safe from PCB's, toxins, and bedbugs?

The Daily News reports today that even more schools have been found to have dangerous levels of toxins:

Parent-backed testing of caulk at city public schools found high levels of a cancer-causing toxin, officials said.

Testing of caulk from six schools around the city last month found levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, as high as 325,000 parts per million, according to New York Communities for Change. The federal limit is 50 parts per million.

"What we're trying to do is find out all the facts," said Latoya Ross, whose two kids attend Public School 332.

The parents found elevated PCB levels at PS 16 in Staten Island, MS 53 in Queens, PS 149 in Manhattan and PS 15, PS 56 and PS 332 in Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, the EPA, which began testing schools for PCBs earlier this month, revealed 22 of 33 samples it took inside PS 53 on Staten Island contained PCB levels above the federal limit.

The parents, politicians and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest called on the city to immediately test all schools for PCB contamination and clean up affected schools.

Education officials said they are doing a pilot study with the EPA to address PCBs in caulking, found in thousands of buildings across the country.

Notice how parents themselves are having to pay for the testing - that's because the DOE won't pay for them and frankly won't do anything about toxins in schools unless they are publicly shamed by parents and the media - as happened in this Staten Island school.

As for the bedbug epidemic in NYC schools, the DOE is slow to act when potential bedbugs are found in schools and even when cases have been confirmed, there is a backlog of schools waiting to be exterminated so it can take months for bedbug infestations to be addressed.

And even when the DOE finally gets around the exterminating a school, they can make a mess of things - just ask the teachers, staff, students and parents at this school.

So here's an answer to your Jets question - how about you worry a little less about the Jets game, Mr. Mayor, and a little bit more about making the schools SAFE FROM TOXINS AND BEDBUGS!!!!