Gennaro, Gioia Charge DoE Knowingly Leased H.S. On Toxic Land
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Front row from right to left - Ivan Valle (parent of 9th grader at school), Councilmember and Chair of Council's Environmental Protection Committee James Gennaro, Councilmember and Chair of Council's Oversight and Investigations Committee Eric Gioia, D. Lee Ezell (Chair of Bronx Community Board 4).

Declaring that he was "extremely alarmed and disturbed" that Information Technology H.S. in Long Island City is "sitting on top of a known contaminated site", City Councilmember James Gennaro said the Department of Education should not build on toxic sites, especially without disclosing the fact to parents.

Gennaro (D- Fresh Meadows), chair of the council Environmental Protection Committee, joined by Councilmember Eric Gioia (D- Long Island City) called on the DoE to immediately address the hazardous situation.

The two lawmakers charged that the health and safety of students, teachers and staff are threatened, and they demanded that the DoE conduct environmental testing at the location, especially of the indoor air, and provide the test results to parents and the school community.

"If there's an area where we can't afford to take any risks, it's with the health and safety of our children," Gioia said. He said there was no warning to parents and others about "the potentially cancer-causing toxins" beneath their feet.

The school was opened in 2003 by the DoE School Construction Authority, but the lawmakers said the DoE failed to tell parents and the community that the school was sitting on toxic land. The site was a brownfield site that had previously been occupied by metal plating warehouse, the lawmakers said.

The DoE leases the school for more than $1.5 million a year and spent $20 million converting the warehouse into a high school and occupational training center for disabled students, they said.

The lawmakers reported that a pump outside the school that draws toxic vapors from the ground and then expels them has repeatedly malfunctioned, according to reports, and may be gathering more toxins from neighboring sites in the mostly industrial neighborhood. This situation has caused the site's contamination levels to rise, endangering the health and safety of students.

Gennaro and Gioia said in a release that the group monitoring the school's environmental remedial system, Legette, Brashears & Graham Inc., advised the school to shut down the pump until the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) could identify the cause of the increased contamination levels.

The lawmakers also insist that the DoE review all leased school sites to catalogue any potentially toxic areas and provide notification of all new school locations- including leased sites- to elected officials and community boards.

Currently, the DoE is required by state law to notify the public of new school sites, and such sites must be approved by the City Council. However, a loophole in the law allows leased school sites, such as Info Tech H.S., to be put into use with no public scrutiny.

Assemblymember Catherine Nolan (D- Ridgewood), chair of the Education Committee, sponsored a bill to close the loophole and specify that leased educational facilities should be subject to the same public notice, council approval and environmental review as are new school construction sites.

Gennaro has charged that state Senator Frank Padavan reneged on a promise to sponsor Nolan's bill in the senate and try to get it passed. Padavan said that was not true.