Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE)
Jersey City chapter of Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC)
169-A Martin Luther King Drive
Jersey City, NJ 07305
201-918-2918
May 29, 2008
Ms. Dore LaPosta,
Director of Division of Enforcement
and Compliance Assistance
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
209 Broadway, 21st Floor
NY, NY 10007
Dear Ms. Dore LaPosta,
We are writing you today on behalf of many parents in Jersey City. We would like to express our deep concern that once again thousands of parents from at least one-third of all of the schools in the Jersey City will not find out about the test results for drinking water in their children’s schools before the end of the school year. We need your intervention to get Jersey City Public School District to abide by its agreement with the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), particularly with respect to the EPA’s communication guidelines to notify parents from all schools about the test results for drinking water. We are sure you share our concern that parents have a right to know if and when their children are exposed to health hazards.
In September 2006, when EPA warned the Jersey City Public Schools about high levels of lead in drinking water, the district failed to notify parents and the community until it became a national news story 18 month later. The testing that is currently taking place has been delayed for almost two years.
We understand that Jersey City school district voluntarily agreed to participate in the EPA’s 3ts (Training, Testing, and Telling) program and to follow the EPA’s guidelines including those related to communication with parents and the community. In fact, on February 28, 2008, when Mahmood Ketabchi, our Lead Organizer and Dennis Brunn, Executive Director of Statewide Education Organizing Committee, met with Mr. Michael McGowan and Ms. Evangelia Palagian, they were told that Jersey City Public Schools were “totally on board” with the EPA’s 3ts program. However, the school district has set a testing schedule that will continue until June 25, when schools are closed. The last set of school buildings (Dickinson High School, PS 6, 7, 8, 25, 27, 28, 31, 11, A Harry Moore and Board of Education building) will be tested from June 12 until June 25.
At the Facility Committee meeting of the Board of Education on May 19, 2008, PCUE leaders were told that test results for some of the school tested would be available in the first week of June. However, based on the Board’s testing schedule, thousands of parents will not learn the outcome of the test. The usual way the Board communicates with parents is through letters sent home with children. Putting the test results on the website is a good idea, something that PCUE has been asking for. However, most parents do not use computers.
On March 11, 2008, during a meeting with the School District Superintendent, Dr. Epps, he was provided with a copy of EPA’s 3ts booklet and highlighted the need for the district to follow EPA’s communication guidelines. In response to our concern, he pointed out that the EPA had commended the district in writing for the way it has handled communication with parents. We asked him for a copy of that letter, as well as to have it posted on the district website. He agreed to give us a copy and to post it on the district website; as of the writing of this letter, however, he has done neither. We do not understand how the district could be commended for things that they have failed to accomplish.
We are convinced that without continued public pressure from our organization and the local media, Jersey City Public Schools would not have taken the actions they have taken to date. Only after meetings PCUE initiated with Supt. Charles Epps, with Board Member Suzanne Mack and subsequently with the Facilities Committee, and after a protest of over 60 parents and children at the April 17th meeting of the Board of Education, petitions, and over 400 postcards was the Superintendent moved to act to carry out the promise to test all schools and notify parents about it.
As parents of public schools children, we strongly believe that our school district has failed to fully and promptly carry out its responsibilities.
We are calling upon you to investigate this situation and to use all your powers to make sure that the Jersey City school district complies with its obligations including:
1. Speeding up the testing so that it can be done on time to notify parents of all children about the test results for drinking water before school ends on June 25, including through letters sent home to parents;
2. Assigning someone with the necessary authority whom parents can call with their concerns and ask questions;
3. Translating information into Spanish for thousands of Spanish speaking parents
4. Rectifying any identified lead problem during the summer so that there will be no inconveniencies for our children when the new school year begins in Sept.
5. Providing parents with information on health hazards related to lead and how and where they can get assistance and testing if they need to.
We are looking forward to hearing from you by June 6, 2008. If you need any further information and/or would like to discuss the issue you can reach Ms. Telissa Dowling, a parent leader at 201-724-1408 or Mahmood Ketabchi, our organizer at 201-377-8585.
Sincerely,
CC:
All School Board Members
Jersey City Mayor
Jersey City Municipal Council
Board of Freeholders of Hudson County
Press
