Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE)
March 17, 2008
Dear Dr. Epps,
We would like to thank you for meeting with our leadership team on March 11, 2008. At the meeting, we presented you with our proposal to create schools that are free from health and environmental hazards. In this letter, we would like to recap the outcome of our meeting with you.
Our proposal and your response were as follows:
1. Communicate to parents and the community the results for testing drinking water and the plans for correcting any identified problems:
We asked that as part of its agreement with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the District provide full and clear information to parents about testing drinking water in schools. This communication would be based on EPA’s guideline of “3Ts” (Training, Testing, and Telling).
In response to our proposal, you stated that the EPA has issued a statement that the district is cooperating with EPA and that the testing of drinking water for all schools would be completed by the end of June. At the meeting we gave you the EPA’s guidelines, and from your statement we understand that your cooperation with EPA would include implementation of their guidelines.
2. Create a standing committee at the Board of Education that will be exclusively responsible for the health and safety of our schools:
We asked that the committee develop and create a comprehensive health and safety plan for our schools, monitor the implementation of the plan, and review the plan as needed. It would also oversee compliance with all NJ workplace and school health and safety laws. The committee would include three parents with voting rights.
You flatly rejected this proposal.
3. Create an Indoor Air Quality Team (IAQT) at the district level following Environmental Protection Agency’s suggested model:
The IAQ Team would include all interested parties including parents. This team would receive some training in air quality inspection. The team would plan and arrange walkthroughs for various schools, identify possible problems, and make recommendations to schools. A Health and Safety Coordinator would facilitate and coordinate the IAQ Team.
You said no to this proposal and added that your staff is already conducting indoor air quality inspections.
4. Establish and enforce the policy that parents have a right to know that the schools their children go to are free from health and environmental hazards:
We asked that Parents receive a regular health and safety report card for the schools their children go to, and it be posted on the district website. Additionally, it would be posted in a visible location in each school. Parents would receive immediate notification in case of any health hazards in their children’s school.
You agreed that you would issue a health and safety report card for each school to parents of children and would post them on the website. You did not give us a timeline as to how often and when the district would send out the first report card.
We want to take this opportunity to urge you to:
· Take the first step and immediately notify parents of children in JC public schools and the community of your timeline for a plan of action to test the drinking water in all schools and to correct any identified problems.
· Issue a school health and safety report card every six months beginning in August 2008.
· We would like to have a copy of the schedule for indoor air quality inspection that you reported your staff is conducting. We would like to see you notify parents about that.
· Reconsider your position in regard to Health and Safety Committee and an Indoor Air Quality Team, both of which include parent involvement.
We also would like to let you know that we were very disappointed to find out that no facility staff person came with you to the meeting although you knew we wanted to speak with you about the Facility Department and the health and safety of our schools.
We hope to receive your written response to our letter by the end of March 2008 so that there is no delay in ensuring the utmost safety of our children.
Sincerely,
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