PS 29 PTA Meeting Pits Parents Against SCA

In a contentious PTA meeting held inside the auditorium Thursday night, parents raised concerns about the handling of a $7 million remediation at the school, stating that the SCA has put children's health at risk and work should halt until classes have ended. The SCA responded that despite mistakes made on their part, an asbestos abatement due to begin Friday evening will continue as planned.

The —which drew representatives for Borough President Marty Markowitz, Councilmember , State Sen. Daniel Squadron, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, as well as news crews from publications as varied as The Brooklyn Heights Press to The New York Times—came after a week of petitions, , and for the PS 29 parents in their efforts to issue a stop work order.

"We are a respectful community and we have a concern on our hands and that is the safety of our children," said Principal Melanie Woods in her opening remarks.

This was followed by a reading of a statement created by the PTA's Health and Safety Committee that, after failing to be transparent regarding the construction schedule and allowing dust to seep into various classrooms, the SCA has not earned parents' trust.

"We believe that science and regulations have caught up to the dangers to health posed by the kind of work the SCA are doing," said the statement. "But the SCA's methods have not. This is 2012, but the SCA's approach is not reflective of current science and safety regulations."

To support this statement, representatives for the PTA offered up red flags regarding dust particulates inhalation and the long term consequences of exposure to asbestos, and questioned what type of air quality monitoring the SCA was employing while the school was under construction.

After these introductory remarks, representatives of the SCA, the DEP, and the Taylor Environmental Group, a third party hired by SCA to monitor the work, were given the opportunity to present their side.

"We have a $7 million project," said Lorraine Grillo, President of the New York City School Construction Authority. "We are here to repair defects in the building and the asbestos removal is a very minor part of this project."

When asked why the SCA had failed to notify parents seven days in advance of the abatement with signs posted around the school as required by DEP regulation Title 15, the SCA responded that they have an understanding with the DEP that allows them to forego posting notices so long as they have notified representatives of the schedule in previous meetings. This remark did not sit well with the crowd.

"If you're not going to follow that part of the law, what else aren't you going to follow?" asked one parent. 

"How are we supposed to trust that the job is going to be done correctly?" said another.

"If you are opaque, it's because you're hiding something," said Lauren Gottlieb, a parent and former head of the PS 29 PTA. "The media will stay on you and we will stay on you and we will have our politicians stay on you. We're not going to back down. For the entire length of this project, we are going to be on top of you. Tell us where you're doing it, when you're doing it. So if I don't trust your monitors, as a parent I can take my children out of school." 

Questions from fellow parents were interrupted as often as the SCA's responses were, with impassioned bursts of anger and skepticism frequently spilling out from the mouths of audience members.

"How often is the air quality, dust and materials tested during the project?" "Is there silica in the dust?" "Are the contractors using HEPA-vacuums?" "Why has so much dust been allowed to get into the classrooms?" "How can the SCA account for human error?" "Why won't SCA post fliers?"

Some in attendance even asserted that SCA was in violation of SEQRA, the State Environmental Quality Review Act requiring local legislatures and land use agencies "to consider, avoid, and mitigate significant environmental impacts of the projects that they approve, the plans or regulations they adopt, and the projects they undertake directly."

But the question most often asked was why the SCA would not postpone work until after classes for the year had ended.

"There are no summer programs here," said one elderly community member, calling for an injunction. "The work could be triple-shifted."

Grillo responded that due to the sequencing of the project, postponement was not an option. While she was amenable to starting bi-weekly meetings with parents to discuss work in progress and ongoing concerns, and offered to share any and all documentation regarding the project with parents moving forward, "Doing work over the summer is impossible," she said.

As a result, many parents threatened to take their children out of school for the remainder of the year.

"I'd like to know what provisions the school has in place for home schooling to ensure that my child graduates from the second grade," said one mother.

Principal Woods said that she would educate parents on their options should they choose to follow that path.