BCS BOE Adopts Action Plan To Deal With Lead

by David Flint
At an emergency meeting of the Berlin School Board on Wednesday evening the Board approved an immediate action plan to deal with the problem of lead paint at Berlin Elementary School. Although there was much disagreement and uncertainty expressed about intermediate and long term solutions, the Board agreed that the plan for immediate action proposed by Interim Superintendent Brian Howard was necessary.
The plan includes the following:
• Cleaning will increase from one to three times a week. Surfaces will be cleaned using a HEPA vacuum, then washed using a two or three bucket process with detergent and then cleaned with a HEPA vacuum a second time.
• A Full Scale Lead Risk Assessment will be done as soon as possible by Certified Risk Assessor Andrew J. McLellan of Environmental Education Associates to include a complete assessment and a plan to remediate the problem.
• Questar III Director of Health & Safety Craig Hansen and the Rensselaer County Health Department will provide in-service training for all faculty and staff regarding routes of exposure to lead and methods to control or eliminate exposure. This will include a recommendation to eliminate all “floor activity” and “good hand washing routines.”
• Berlin CSD will put up an orange snow fence around the building to reinforce the importance of having students avoid the 5-foot perimeter area around the building. A custodian will walk around the building each morning and collect all paint chips and properly dispose of them. An enhanced HUD cleaning procedure will take place three times per week. All books, pencil holders and other items that may be used by students will be removed from the window sills. Staff will study the feasibility of converting large spaces, the gym for example, into temporary classrooms so work can be done in classrooms if that is a recommendation in the Full Scale Risk Assessment.
• Arrangements will be made as soon as possible to box in the columns in front of the school and to cover the ceiling of the portico.
• Berlin CSD will fund all of these steps within its existing budget. The Superintendent will meet with the Business Official to determine how this may be done and will send recommendations to the Board of Education.
• The Grafton and Stephentown Schools will be inspected and tested for lead and asbestos.
• Blood testing for lead will be made available at the school to students free of charge and to faculty at cost. (The District had been advised that State regulations prohibit covering the cost to faculty except in the case of the outbreak of a communicable disease.)
Howard said the plan was worked out in consultation with representatives from the NYS and Rensselaer County Departments of Health, the Education Department’s Facilities and Planning Division, Craig Hansen of Questar III and BCS Director of Facilities Cyril Grant. Andrew McLellan, highly regarded in the field and recommended by the NYS Department of Health, reviewed the plan and agreed that it appeared reasonable and feasible. Howard said McLellan has a team ready to go and expects to complete the assessment in a week’s time. Once the assessment is completed, immediate, intermediate and long term plans will be developed.
Several Board Members expressed concern about the immediate safety of the students, not just from lead but also from the fact that windows will be kept closed, that there is no functioning ventilation system and that many children are already suffering from asthma. They discussed the possibility of reopening the Stephentown and Grafton buildings. Howard said that until further testing is done at those buildings he would not consider placing the children in them. He said he had analyzed the reports on those buildings and had done a cursory inspection himself and found that Stephentown failed the health and safety test in the last 5-year survey; an asbestos report indicates there may be friable asbestos; the windows are potential sources of lead and PCBs, and there are loose bricks. Grafton, he said, received an unsatisfactory rating. It has a well with corrosion and an expired useful life and some lead exposure under the eaves. Board Members asked, however, that the inspection and testing for lead and asbestos now planned for those buildings be comprehensive enough so that they could make a decision about using them if the risk assessment at BES indicates the students should be removed. Howard agreed to discuss that with McLellan.
Board Member Alan Webster Jr. said he agreed with the steps for immediate action but was not comfortable about leaving the students in the building in the meantime. He urged that the Board start right away to get the Stephentown and Grafton buildings up to code. He said, too, that the Board would at some point have to look at accountability – how the District came to this situation with such a serious disconnect from the community and why certain decisions were made, “So that we can learn from our mistakes.”
Board Member Beverly Stewart asked that as soon as the Risk Assessment is completed, the Board hold a public hearing with professionals present who can respond to the many questions and concerns that people have.
Concerned Citizens Meeting
In the meantime on Friday, October 29, at 6:30 pm, parents and concerned citizens will be meeting at the Berlin Town Hall to discuss the current health risks, the need for immediate blood testing of children and future strategies.