By Imani Hall 

Advocates for Bronx public schools are looking for answers over the city’s mandated order to remove a dangerous toxin found in public school buildings. 

As part of its agreement in a recent court case, the state Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held its first public meeting at the Highbridge Green School to discuss Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) contaminating Bronx schools on May 28. The New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) sent out a list identifying three schools–P.S. 024 Spuyten Duyvil,  P.S. 95, and The Angelo Patri Middle School–within District 10 in the northwest Bronx that were laden with PCB. Nine other schools were listed as possibly containing the poisonous substance.

“Schools built between 1958 and 1979 are likely to be PCB contaminated,” said Christina Giorgio, a staff lawyer for the advocacy group.

The NYLPI represented New York Communities for Change, a group of families from low income and moderate income areas. The suit resulted in the DOE agreeing to remove PCB-tainted light fixtures from more than 750 school buildings by December 31, 2016.

In the settlement, the EPA agreed to hold five public meetings in every borough to receive information and feedback from parents and community members about PCB in schools. The EPA agreed to use these meetings to solicit recommendations on how to properly dispose of PCBs. Those recommendations will then be submitted to city officials.

The lawsuit is one of two cases NYLPI has pursued to ensure PCBs are eliminated within the school system. In a separate suit in 2008, NYLPI represented Naomi Gonzalez, a Bronx mother who sued the city Department of Education over PCB–contaminated caulk in her daughter’s elementary school, P.S 178 in Baychester.

The DOE settled the case with the agreement that the EPA conduct a five-school study program in 2010 to address the caulk contamination in public schools and to determine whether any schools can be caulk-free going forward. The result showed exceedingly high levels of PCBs in public schools.

“A lot of good work was done during the public study,” said James Hackler, an EPA representative at the meeting. “We really do have a better understanding of where PCBs are in schools.”

Though the EPA said it conducted a study that resulted in “good work,” some have questioned the results.

“I’m not sure why the peer review didn’t ask about the appropriateness of doing air testing with the windows open,” Giorgio mentioned.

Don Craft, a former EPA employee, claims that during testing some windows at the school were indeed open, allowing for cleaner air to waft through, subsequently tainting the results of the study.

“What does that sample tell you?” Craft asked. “You’ve introduced a second variable.”

The EPA responded with noting that they opened the windows because on hotter days during the year, teachers typically open the windows.

“Generally the windows are open wider through warm ones (days) than they are through cold ones…we tried to represent normal operating conditions in the classrooms,” said John Gorman, an EPA representative.

Between 1950 and 1979 PCBs were used in caulk and soil in New York City’s public schools and public housing. They were banned in 1978 because they were found to have “negative effects on the intellectual development of children and adults,” according to the EPA’s website.

Though this is an issue that affects many Bronxites, Giorgio said that not many parents are aware of PCB contamination in the Bronx. Only one parent attended the meeting.

“I’m a little disappointed, I really am,” said a parent of District 12.

“A lot of parents, particularly in the Bronx, are not aware of this issue because they are dealing with a range of challenges, and the city does not advertise it,” Giorgio said. “More can be done and more should be done to give awareness to this issue.”

The EPA has conducted outreach efforts into the toxin, soliciting help from the federal Housing Urban Development agency. But the key challenge, according to Gorman, is finding the experts to take on the problem.

“It’s a widespread national problem and there’s limited numbers of people the EPA can work with,” Gorman said.

For a complete list of Bronx schools that are PCB contaminated or potentially contaminated, visit www.epa.gov.