Letter to Charles Epps: Parents Expect You to Do the Right Thing

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

June 25, 2008

Dr. Charles Epps, School District Superintendent

Jersey City Public Schools

346 Claremont Avenue

Jersey City, NJ 07305

Dear Dr Epps,

We are pleased that your administration has taken important steps to test drinking water in all our schools and notify the parents and the public of the testing schedule and test results.

In this letter we would like to recap what you agreed to do at the Board of Education meeting on June 19 in regard to water testing:

Our proposal and your response were as follows:

1. Make a commitment to notify all parents by letter/mail when additional test results are ready after schools end on June 25;

You stated that the final test results will be ready by July 11 and since the school administrators are working until July 15, each school will send send the test results home by mail.

2. Translate information into Spanish for thousands of Spanish speaking parents.

You agreed that all relevant information regarding water testing will be translated into Spanish sent out to parents.

3. Assign someone with the necessary authority whom parents can call with their concerns and questions;

You said Mr. Maurice Howell, Special Assistance/Maintenance Plant Management is the point person who parents can call with their concerns.

4. Provide parents with information on health hazards related to lead and how and where they can get assistance and testing if they need to.

In response, you stated that you would put that information together and send it to us.

We would like to make the following recommendations and we request that you:

1. Follow up and make sure that principals do send the letters home as you agreed to. We have come across many instances where parents complained that they did not receive the letter regarding testing schedule and/or test results.
2. Include Mr. Maurice Howell’s name and his contact information in the letter so that parents have that information. At this point, parents have no idea whom they can call and talk to if they have any issues regarding water testing and lead problems in the drinking water.
3. Send information regarding health hazards related to lead to all parents not just to us.

We would like to reiterate that our proposals above are based on EPA communication guidelines reflected in the “3Ts” program which your administration has agreed to implement. Our school district and you as the Superintendent of our schools – as you have stated - have an obligation to our children and to us as parents to do everything in your power to make sure that our children are safeguarded while they are in school.

Once again we are happy to see that you have taken some steps to make sure that our schools are healthier and safer and parents are kept informed about health related issues in our schools. However, during the summer, we will be watching closely to make sure that our school district follows though its agreement with EPA and its obligations to create healthy schools for our children.

We are looking forward to working with you to make sure that Jersey City children are getting a quality education and that our schools are healthy and environmentally safe.

Should you have any questions or want to speak with us you may reach us at 201-918-2918. Please ask for Ms. LouElla McFadden.

Sincerely,

CC:

• Mr. William DeRosa, President of the Jersey City Board of Education
• Ms. Suzanne T. Mack, Member of the JCBOE and Chair of the Facility Committee of the Board
• Ms. Dore LaPosta, Director of Division of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region II
• Press