ACT NOW: Healthy Schools for Jersey City Children: Press Advisory: Rally for Healthy Schools

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Press Advisory: Rally for Healthy Schools

Parents &

Communities

United for

Education

FOR PLANNING PURPOSES: FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Tuesday, August 27 Luella McFadden, President: 201-918-2918

Loyda Goldston, First Vice-president 973-204-4121

Rally 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3

Parents Urge Epps and School Board on Safe Water

and Healthy Schools

The city’s grassroots public school reform organization, Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE), will call on Jersey City Schools District Superintendent Charles T. Epps and the Jersey City Board of Education to adopt and implement PCUE’s healthy school proposals, previously submitted. In particular, PCUE will urge school officials to immediately develop both short-term and full scale plans to remediate the problem of lead in drinking water at Jersey City’s public schools. The advanced age of the city’s public school buildings – most are several decades old and some are over hundred years old -- calls for urgent attention to creating a healthy and safe school environment. A healthy school not only contributes to the comfort, health, and well-being of students but also allows students to perform better academically.

What: Rally to highlight the need for healthy schools for Jersey City children. Participants at the rally will carry signs. They will “donate” a case of bottled water and a pack of toilet paper to the Board of Education urging them to provide our children with safe water and sufficient toilet paper for restrooms.

When: Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008, 12:30 p.m.

Where: Jersey City Board of Education

346 Claremont Avenue, Jersey City

Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE) is the Jersey City chapter of the Statewide Education Organizing Committee (SEOC). PCUE is a grassroots and direct action organization working to improve Jersey City public schools. Since March of this year, PCUE has launched a campaign assuring that school officials test all our schools for lead in the drinking water and notify parents and the community of the testing schedule and test results.

169-A Martine Luther King Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305

201-918-2918

pcue.info@seocnj.org

For more information please visit: http://www.pcueforhealthyschools.blogspot.com/

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FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

THIS SCHOOL YEAR ALONE AS REPORTED BY THE MEDIA:
• School # 15: Closed down for three weeks because of mold problem in the gym. The school officials, for many months, were aware of water intrusion into the gym but took no immediate action to remedy the problem.
• School # 16: In October 2007, the trailer housing kindergarten children was shut down because of mold.
• Schools 11, 23, 31, 6, 35, and 27: In Jan. 2008, drinking water was shut off and bottled water was distributed among children. In Sept. 2006, EPA warned the district of high level of lead in the drinking water. There is another 39 school buildings that have not been tested.
• School 9: March 2003, mouse droppings were found in the school.

HEALTHY SCHOOL MATTERS:
• A healthy school not only contributes to the comfort, health, and well-being of students but also allows students to perform better academically.
• A total 29,288 students (12.5% of Jersey City population), 2,900 teachers, many other school staff spend an important part of their day in public schools across the city.
• Many schools in Jersey City were built decades ago with little regard for indoor air quality and environmental safety standards.
• Children are more vulnerable than adults to health hazards.
• A typical school has four times more occupants than an office building of similar size.
• EPA ranks indoor air pollution among five health risk facing American.
• According to EPA, indoor air pollutant is 2 to 5 times or sometimes even 100 times more dangerous than outside air pollutant.

WHAT WE WANT:
1. Following the US Environmental Protection Agency’s communication guidelines, Jersey City District should immediately notify parents of its timeline for testing drinking water in all schools and correcting any identified lead problem.
2. Create a standing committee of the Board of Education that is exclusively responsible for health and environmental safety of our schools. Three parents should be a part of this committee.
3. Create an Indoor Air quality Team following EPA guidelines at the district level. This team should partly consist of parents.
4. Issue semi-annual health and safety report cards for each school to parents of children in Jersey City beginning in August 2008.

Please read our Call to Action: Health and Safety Proposal

ACT NOW: Healthy Schools for Jersey City Children

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Press Advisory: Rally for Healthy Schools

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FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

RESOURCES: HEALTHY SCHOOLS MATTER

Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE)