Why Won't Test-Happy Dennis Walcott Test PS 114 For Mold?

As I wrote earlier, Chancellor Dennis Walcott already has a track record of putting children at risk by allowing them to attend schools that he knows are unsafe.

At PS 51 in the Bronx, Walcott KNEW that the school was contaminated with toxins and did NOTHING for months until finally he admitted that the school was unsafe and needed to be remediated.

At least one person connected to the school has filed suit claiming the toxins there gave her cancer.

Now parents at PS 114 in Belle Harbor are worried that Walcott is repeating this callousness at their school:

The school was flooded during Sandy -- the water line went halfway up the front door.

Monday night, representatives of the health and education departments tried to address parents' concerns including the possibility of mold inside the school's walls.

"I personally looked down in the basement underneath into the crawl space to make sure you didn't see any moisture or anything that was left that could be causing mold," said John Shea from the city's division of school facilities.

Officials said they followed health department guidelines, which say if mold can't be seen and if all sources that cause mold to grow are disposed of then no mold testing is necessary.

But parents said the hurricane was an extraordinary circumstance and the normal rules shouldn't apply.

"Being that this room was submerged I'm not comfortable with these walls that are still here that took five feet of water," a parent said.

She also conceded that they hadn't tested the water for the school, which received some sarcastic chuckles from the parents in the crowd.

Parents said they're concerned that untested water would be in the food their kids eat and the fountains they drink from.

But schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the water is safe.

"It's part of people's perception that it hasn't been tested," Walcott said. "But it's being tested on a regular basis by the Department of Environmental Protection. That's for the community and the school is part of that community.

The school is still being run on generator power and parents said they are still able to smell fumes from inside the building.

Walcott said he will do his best to address the concerns addressed at the meeting as quickly as possible.

You can be sure that Walcott and the NYCDOE cannot be trusted.

Last week they assured parents all necessary tests were done on the school.

When asked if the school had been tested for mold, they demurred in their answers.

Now they admit that the school hasn't been tested.

With all the money these test-happy educrats spend on standardized testing, why can't they open the coffers and test PS 114 for mold?

Could it be because they KNOW there is mold there and don't want to expose themselves to the parent furor (and lawsuits) now that they've reopened the school?

Or are they just stubborn about this and they really believe that sight testing is enough?

Who knows the motivation for the refusal to test for mold, but we do know one thing:

Dennis Walcott is a liar with a track record of putting children at risk in schools he knew to be unsafe.

If I were a parent of a child attending PS 114 or an employee there, I would lawyer up and sue the NYCDOE, the City of New York and Dennis Walcott himself.

The only thing these people in Bloomberg's government understand is subpoenas.

The DOE spends hundreds of millions on testing every year.

Let them spend a little more to test PS 114 for mold.