Fear Spreads Over School Toxins

By Staff Reporter of the Sun
May 19, 2008

Fears that toxins could be endangering children at two Upper West Side public schools are inspiring a call for intervention by the federal government.

The city this spring removed parts of the schools' windows that contained the toxins, called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. The schools, P.S. 199 and the Center School, share a building on West 70th Street.

The city's Department of Education subsequently tested dozens of samples of dust and air at the building; the department said all tests indicateded either that no PCBs were present or that the toxins were at "very low levels below federal standards."

Five elected officials yesterday said they are not satisfied with the Department of Education's response. "We are concerned that contamination at the site may present imminent and substantial danger to P.S. 199 students and faculty," the officials wrote in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat of Manhattan and Brooklyn; the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer; Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal; State Senator Tom Duane, and City Council Member Gale Brewer signed the letter.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Education, Marge Feinberg, said, "The suggestion that we would choose to expose our students to health risks is outrageous."