By KIMBERLY JACOBS

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the Intro 126 bill inspired by a toxic exposure case in P.S. 51 in Norwood, last month.

Parents and teachers at the school were outraged after learning high traces of trichloroethylene, a cancer causing toxin, coursed throughout the school, creating a hazardous environment. After four years of ensuring this never happens again, parents finally felt like a step in the right direction has been made by the bill’s passage.

“I practically lived there,” said Helene Hartman-Kutnowsky, a parent whose child attended the school several years ago. “We as parents were devastated when we found out, but at least we made a step in the right direction.”

The measure now mandates the DOE release findings of environmental reports at school buildings at a faster rate. Parents were initially angry over the building being hazardous. Their frustrations mounted after learning school officials waited six months before disclosing the information to them.

“Some of the key achievements of the legislation include increasing the City Council’s oversight of school environmental health, improving the transparency of school leasing decisions, and ensuring parents and staff get prompt and complete notice of environmental test results,” said Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who drafted the bill.

The news inspired several stakeholders to look back at how delays surfaced after the State Department of Environmental Protection sent a report to the DOE detailing the toxic status of the school.

“I was stunned when the school chancellor got up during a meeting and said ‘we knew about it 90 days before school ended’,” said Adaline Walker-Santiago, chair of Community Board 7, remembering when she first found out about PS 51.

Although Walker-Santiago and Hartman-Kutnowsky’s children no longer attended the school they were still driven to ensure this never happened to anyone else’s child, which included those of Marisol Carrero. “You send your kids to school to learn, and have to worry about them being exposed to toxic chemicals. It’s ridiculous. No parent should have to go through this,” said Carrero.

Parents soon mobilized, drawing attention to the school’s toxicity, though many felt the fight to be hopeless. As the years passed, many became hopeless and frustrated, but some continued to advocate and seek answers. “We had to support one another as parents, but some lost hope,” said Hartman-Kutnowsky. “We didn’t see a risk for students but we did for teachers who may have been pregnant at the time,” saidmJames Bower from the Department of Health (DOH). At least one teacher at PS 51 miscarried while working at the school. Bower also said “the amount[students] were exposed to is still relatively low.”

A spokesperson for the DOE said the agency will “fully comply with the new law.”

“We won! We won!” said Walker-Santiago. “Now we have to continuously fight for the kids of the future.”

Editor’s Note: The print version for this article erroneously states who the reporter was interviewing. It was Helene Hartman-Kutnowsky, not Jean Hill.