DOE Hides PCB Contamination From Parents And School Staff

If it's Tuesday, another city school must have tested positive for PCB's:

The Environmental Protection Agency says an East Harlem building that houses three city schools has tested positive for PCBs.

The agency says it took a total of 14 samples of lighting ballasts from the building located at 508 East 120th Street.

It currently houses PS 206, PS 37 and PS 112.

The EPA says 12 of the samples came back above the regulatory limit of 50 parts per million.

Parents and teachers say they are shocked because the school did not tell them the EPA discovered the PCBs, which have been linked to cancer.

"It's their safety and the staff that's in there too. It's not just the children. Everyone that's in the building is at risk so I would think people should voice their opinion to get something done," said Parent Tyra King.

"Was it already tested a second time, to make sure it was at acceptable level? I don't know. I never knew the problem in the first place. This is the first I'm hearing of it so I'm hoping the school did the right thing, did the tests, fixed it, corrected it and now the problem is good to go," said Parent Decarlo Stroud.

The EPA says federal law requires immediate removal of the lighting ballasts.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education says the EPA and city Department of Health indicate there is no immediate health risk for students and staff at the buildings.

The DOE also says it took corrective action during the same weekend as the EPA inspection by replacing ballasts as necessary.

The EPA has been checking one city school per week for traces of PCBs. For the past five weeks, a city school has tested positive.

They're hiding the size and scope of the problem to save money and face for Bloomberg.

So what if people die of cancer?

This is money and Bloomberg's face we're talking about.

Maybe the public advocate of NYC could, you know, get off his ass and do something to point out the problem?

Or maybe the state attorney general could take these murderous bastards to court and force them to clean the toxins out of schools?

Because left to their own devices, Shael, Cathie, Moneybags and the rest of the DOE brain trust are going to ignore the problem and spend all of the DOE money they can on test prep and other no-bid contracts for bullshit.

And as usual, the UFT is useless doing anything about this.

How about a commercial that shows all the schools that have tested positive for PCB's that asks how many people will DIE FROM CANCER as a consequence of Bloomberg's refusal to CLEAN UP THE SCHOOLS!!!!!