Saturday, June 21, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Press Release: Parents Tell Board: Follow EPA Guidelines
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
For Immediate Release
June 19, 2008
Parents Tell Board: Follow EPA Guidelines
On Thursday, June 19 from 6 to 8pm, parents from Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE) will assemble at the Board of Education meeting taking place at school #11 on the corner of the Bergen Ave. and Academy Street. Parents will be holding signs and speaking during the public comment period to urge Dr. Epps and the members of the Board of Education to abide by its agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency to fully inform parents and the community about the testing of water in Jersey City schools.
PCUE is asking the Board to:
- Make a commitment to notify all parents by letter/mail when additional test results are ready after schools end on June 25;
- Assign someone with the necessary authority whom parents can call with their concerns and ask questions;
- Translate information into Spanish for thousands of Spanish speaking parents;
- Provide parents with information on health hazards related to lead and how and where they can get assistance and testing if they need to.
Loyda Goldston, a parent with three children in PS # 34 said "We are very pleased to see that our schools are being tested for lead and parents have received notification about the testing schedule and that the test results for some schools have been released. However, we are here to make sure that our school district will notify all parents by mail when additional test results are ready after schools end on June 25. We want our district to translate this information into Spanish for parents who speak very little or no English. As parents we have a right to know when and if our children have been exposed to any health hazards."
Another parent, Marie Mervil, with child in McNair High School, stated that "Our school district, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, has an obligation to provide parents of children in schools with high levels of lead with information about lead related health hazards and resources where they can seek assistance and testing if they want to."
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 Jersey City school children. Health hazards during this academic year affected thousands of children.
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 Jersey City communities to improve education for our children and create schools that are healthy and safe. For more information on PCUE, parents are invited to call 201-918-2918 or visit the blog at http://pcueforhealthyschools
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Contact:LueElla McFadden-201-780-1933
Loyda Goldston-973-204-4121
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Jersey City Reporter: A lead on lead in schools
Parents want info ASAP; Board of Ed gives results
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| THEY WANT ANSWERS – Members of Parents and Communities United for Education, a Jersey City grassroots organization, want lead testing in Jersey City public schools to finish before the end of the school year. | |
Parents of Jersey City schoolchildren want answers immediately about the lead levels in drinking water in the Jersey City public schools.
Members of Parents and Communities United for Education, a local grassroots organization, have petitioned School Superintendent Dr. Epps and members of the Board of Education in recent weeks to speed up water testing so that it can be done in time to tell parents from all schools about the results before the end of the school year.
They also want the results to be posted on the Jersey City Board of Education Web site (www.jcboe.org).
The testing is being done voluntarily by the Jersey City school system in all 45 of the city's public school buildings due to reports in January about the high level of lead in drinking water found at six schools (Schools 11, 23, 31, 6, 27, and 25).
Local newspaper articles said that some administrators in the school district knew about the lead problem for over a year in those schools, but did not tell parents.
To Read the full story, please click on the link below:
http://www.hudsonreporter.com
Saturday, May 31, 2008
EPA Intervention Sought: Jersey City School District not abiding by its agreement
For Immediate Release
May 29, 2008
EPA Intervention Sought:
all parents about the test results for water quality
On Thursday, May 29, 2008, Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE) sent a letter to Ms. Dore LaPosta, Director of the Division of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance at the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Region 2 that has been engaged in testing drinking water in Jersey City Schools since August 2006. PCUE asked Ms. LaPosta to intervene to get the
In September 2006, the EPA warned
On May 7, in a letter to parents, school staff, and administration, the Board announced the schedule for testing all 45
“The Board needs to speed up its testing and notify all parents of results before school ends,” said PCUE parent leader LueElla McFadden, “because they promised and because it’s the right thing to do for our children. They should notify parents by sending letter home to them, as they always do. ”
Parents and Communities United for Education is the
Contacts:
LueElla McFadden-201-780-1933
Loyda Goldston-973-204-4121
PCUE Asks the EPA to Interven in Water Testing
Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE)
201-918-2918
May 29, 2008
Ms. Dore LaPosta,
Director of Division of Enforcement
and Compliance Assistance
209 Broadway, 21st Floor
Dear Ms. Dore LaPosta,
We are writing you today on behalf of many parents in
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
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
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
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
Sincerely,
CC:
All School Board Members
Jersey City Mayor
Board of Freeholders of
Press
Friday, May 23, 2008
Parents assemble at the Board meeting: “Tell ALL parents about water test results before schools close in June!”
Parents and Communities United for Education (PCUE)
201-918-2918
For Immediate Release
May 23, 2008
Parents assemble at the Board meeting: “Tell ALL parents
about water test results before schools close in June!”
On Thursday, May 22, about 40 parents and children assembled at the Jersey City Board of Education meeting to urge School Superintendent Dr. Epps and members of the Board of Education to speed up water testing so that it can be done in time to tell parents from all schools about the test result before the end of the school year. The testing that is being currently conducted has been delayed for almost two years.
Since March of this year, PCUE has begun a Healthy Schools Campaign to safeguard the safety and well-being of
While assembling at the Board’s meeting, participants held signs in English and Spanish such as “Act Now! No More Promises,” “Speed Up Water Testing,” and Test Result for Water: Tell All Parents.”
Telissa Dowling, a parent leader with Parents and Communities United for Education told the Board that putting the test results on the website is a good idea, something that PCUE has been pushing for. However, she added that most parents do not use computers. The usual way the Board communicates with parents is through letters sent home with children. Ms. Dowling gave the board copies of over 400 postcards in support of the PCUE Healthy Schools Campaign
Neither Epps nor any Board member made a comment how they plan to address the problem. “I am very upset that our District’s leaders are not responding to our concern that all parents be informed about this critical health issue,” said Ms. LoueElla McFadden, great-grandmother of a child at school 38 “there are thousands of parents who will not learn about the test results. This is not the leadership our children deserve!” she added.
On May 7, in a letter to parents, school staff, and administration, the Board announced the schedule for testing all 45
At the Facility Committee meeting of the BOE, PCUE leaders were told that test results for some of the school tested will be available in the first week of June. However, based on the Board’s testing schedule, parents from at least a dozen schools, including parents from the schools that have had lead problems detected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since Sept. 2006, may never find out about the test results. In September 2006, when EPA warned the Jersey City Public Schools about high levels of lead in drinking water in six schools, the district failed to notify parents and the community until it became a national news story 18 month later.
Parents want a comprehensive "Healthy Schools Program"
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
_____________________________________________
Contacts:
LueElla McFadden-201-780-1933
Loyda Goldston-973-204-4121
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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