Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE)
201-918-2918
For Immediate Release
May 20, 2008
PARENTS TELL BOARD:
ALL PARENTS MUST BE NOTIFIED OF TEST RESULTS FOR WATER
BEFORE SCHOOL ENDS!
On Thursday, May 22, 2008, at 6pm, Parents and Communities United for Education will gather at the Board of Education to urge School Superintendent Dr. Epps and Members of the Board of education to notify parents from all schools about the test result for drinking water before the end of the school year. The Board of Education meeting will take place at Martin Luther King, PS 11 on the corner of
On May 7, in a letter to parents, school staff, and administration, the Board announced the schedule for testing all 45
Telissa Dowling, a parent leader with PCUE, said “Dr. Epps promised us in his letter that they would tell parents about the test result. We are happy to see that they are taking the first step to inform parents of the test result beginning first week of June as they promised us at the Facility Committee meeting of the BOE on May 19. But, based on the Board’s testing schedule, parents from at least dozen of schools will not be notified because testing is not going be done soon enough to notify all parents.”
“This is not fair,” said Zaida Oyola, a parent leader with NJ Action 21, a community-based organization. “Schools in the Heights area have been the first ones with lead problems. Schools officials did not tell us last time until it became national news that we had lead problem in our schools. But this time, they have to do everything in their power, including speeding up the testing, to get the information about test result to us as they promised,” She added. Ms. Oyola has a child in PS #8.
Parents want a comprehensive "Healthy Schools Program"
Since March of this year, PCUE has begun a Healthy School Campaign to safeguard the safety and well-being of
PCUE’s campaign has highlighted health hazards in schools and proposed a four-point proposal including:
1. Immediately test drinking water in all schools and keep parents fully informed, 2. Create a standing committee of BOE members and parents that will be exclusively responsible for school health and safety, 3. Create an Indoor Air Quality Team at the district level following EPA guidelines, and 4. Issue semi-annual health and safety report cards for each school to be sent to parents and posted on the District’s website.
PCUE is a grassroots organization of parents, grandparents, and concerned members of the community that is a chapter of the Statewide Education Organizing Committee of NJ. PCUE is committed to organizing parents in all
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_____________________________________________
Contact:
LueElla McFadden-201-780-1933
Loyda Goldston-973-204-4121
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