Experts Speak Out on Environmental Safety at P.S. 89

By Ronald Drenger

P.S. 89's PTA and the Board of Education held a forum on Tuesday, Feb. 5 in hopes of resolving the lingering environmental concerns that have deeply divided P.S. 89 parents over their children's return to the school, now scheduled for Feb. 28.

But fewer than 50 parents showed up at the school’s auditorium to hear the panel of environmental experts. And while the event provided more fodder for the debate, it appeared to do little to alter the balance of opinions.

Parents on both sides heard testimony that they said reinforced their positions. And Chancellor Harold Levy, who made a surprise appearance, reiterated his position that it was time to go back.

"It’s important to get a sense of closure out of this and get the community united," Levy said. "The right thing to do is, we move on, and hope the community comes together and takes that view as well."

Noting a parent vote last week, in which a majority of ballots supported the Feb. 28 return, (see story) and the relatively sparse attendance at the forum, he said, "I think there’s a message and the message is, ‘We’re ready.’"

The day before, on Feb. 4, the PTA's executive board voted to drop its suit against the Board of Education to halt the return on Feb. 28.

Board of Education officials, their consultants, representatives of the city’s Department of Health and other panelists said that data collected since Sept.11 shows that the air in and around the school is safe for children.

"To my reading, the level of environmental testing and investigation in the schools down here has been unprecedented for any schools in the city," said Joel Forman, an assistant professor of pediatric medicine at Mt. Sinai Hospital. "The levels [of pollutants] are no different here than elsewhere in the city."

Paul Yellin of NYU Downtown Hospital, the former president of the New York chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said parents "should be more worried about smoking, or if our children are immunized, or if they’re buckling their seat belts" than about air quality.

Bernard Orlan, the Board’s director of environmental health and safety, described how the school’s ventilation system had been upgraded and said the Board would continue to test the air inside and outside the school. and Tom Fusillo of the Environ Corp., the environmental consultant hired by P.S. 89’s PTA, said that environmental tests did not reveal health hazards.

But two panelists questioned whether the school, and the downtown environment, is indeed safe.

"I don’t see how anyone can say it’s safe to reoccupy this building when there are particle levels that exceed standards for adults," said David Carpenter, Director of the Institute of Health and the Environment at SUNY Albany, citing high particle readings in recent tests. "To expose children to particle levels at these levels is unconscionable." He said not enough was known about the composition of the dust from the World Trade Center site and referred to air sampling that has been done as "half-assed at best."

"I’m not saying this building is unsafe to be occupied, but this building has not been proven to be safe to be occupied," he said.

Marjorie Clarke, an environmental consultant and scientist-in-residence at Lehman College, said there is little scientific knowledge about the health effects of combinations of hazardous chemicals in the air.
"During incineration, materials coalesce with the dust," she said. "When you just measure the particles, you’re not looking at how they interact."

Board of Education officials have said that elevated particle levels found on certain days last month are dangerous only for exposures over many years. And at the forum they acknowledged that the testing method used for instant readings consistently shows higher measurements than the "actual" particle levels found with more rigorous tests that take longer—a point that has also been made by other experts involved in monitoring the environmental effects of the Trade Center disaster.

Barbara Cooper of the Department of Health agreed that more research is needed on chemical combinations, but said: "Generally, when you have low levels of exposures, even when you put them together, we haven’t seen health effects."

Panelists also addressed mental health issues for children returning to downtown schools.
Harold Koplowitz, director of the Child Study Center at New York University, said it was important for families to get "back to normal—a new normal."

"Getting the children back to the school, to a scary place that is no longer scary, is an important part of the healing process," he said. "It’s amazing how well most children do. Their resiliency is incredible." He said it was vital for parents to be calm and reassuring with their kids.

"There are no firm guarantees about health and safety in this city or elsewhere," said Spencer Eth, vice chairman and medical director of St. Vincent’s Medical Center. "From what I understand, your children should be safe. Their reaction is much dependent on what they feel from you."

Many parents at P.S. 89 and other downtown schools have worried that trucks carrying debris from the Trade Center site, and the dumping of debris onto barges at Pier 25, a couple of blocks from the schools, disperse toxic dust, and they have pushed for the barge operation to be moved. A representative of the city’s Department of Design and Construction, which is coordinating the Trade Center cleanup, estimated that the debris removal operation will continue through June or July, but said extensive precautions were taken to contain dust.

Parents who were interviewed after the forum said that their feelings about returning to the P.S./I.S. 89 building were strengthened.

"I was reassured by experts on the panel that we’ve made right decision to go back," said Rose de Klerk. "The data shows there are spikes in particle levels, but they’re not often enough and it’s long-term exposure, rather than the occasional exposure, that will do harm."

"There are unknowns anywhere in life," said Angela Benfield, who has two children in P.S. 89 and has strongly supported the Feb. 28 move. "You can’t base decisions on what you don’t now, you have to base decisions on what you do know. I think for the children’s mental health, it’s very important to get back to our normal lives. Overall it will serve them better in the long run."

Amie Gross, who has opposed the Feb. 28 return—and who moderated the forum with another parent, John Chow, who supports the move—said information provided by Board officials and their consultants was "distorted."

"I find it suspicious for the Board now to question the methodology it chose to use" for air testing, she said. She blamed the Board’s push to move P.S. 89 from its temporary home on the Lower East Side for causing dissension among parents.

"We’re left with a carcass of a school and a divided community, and all for >what?" she said. "We have a perfectly reasonable place to be, that’s not costing the Board any money. The whole thing does not compute."

Gross, who has moved with her family from Battery Park City to the Village until the debris removal is finished, said she was requesting a variance to send her child to P.S. 3 in the West Village. Regarding the relatively low parent turnout at the forum, Gross said:

"People are just beaten down. They’re exhausted."