With PCB levels down, Lexington school to open Monday
LEXINGTON — Classes will resume Monday at the Joseph Estabrook Elementary School after officials decided yesterday that polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, found in the building have been reduced to a safe level.
The unanimous decision came as results from tests on 18 air samples showed that levels of the toxic chemical “have improved substantially,’’ said Superintendent Paul Ash in a memo last night to Estabrook parents. He said flushing air into the school and modifying ventilation systems were responsible for the improvement.
The test results and other aspects of the PCB situation at the school were reviewed by an advisory committee composed of Estabrook parents, school officials, and a representative from the school system’s environmental consulting firm.
According to Ash’s memo, the school will take precautions when it opens Monday, including additional air tests to ensure that PCB levels continue to decline. Additional ventilation will also be added to the four kindergarten classrooms to reduce levels to EPA-recommended targets, with a backup option of shifting those classes to the Central Administration office.
An environmental consulting crew has worked to encapsulate the caulking around panels below classroom windows after test results released earlier in the week showed high PCB levels in the material. Ash said yesterday that all the caulk surrounding the interior side of the panels has been encapsulated, and ventilators have been inspected and cleaned. Students did not attend classes at Estabrook this week after tests last month showed PCB levels in the air above the federal standard. Classes were canceled Tuesday and students had Thursday off because of Rosh Hashana. They went on field trips on Wednesday and yesterday.
The School Committee will address the issue at a meeting on Tuesday at the Clarke Middle School.
Estabrook parents were told Tuesday night that they might have to send their children to one of seven other school buildings or even a private space if tests showed the toxic chemical had not been brought below acceptable levels.
Estabrook has been closed to allow crews and consultants to continue a second phase of PCB removal after taking out the contaminated window caulking did not lower the levels.
Parents at the meeting applauded the school administration and staff’s efforts to devise a contingency plan.
“I appreciate that Plan B has been put forward . . . just knowing we’re speaking about it,’’ said Harold Payson, a father of two Estabrook kindergartners.
Tests in the spring found the building had potentially unsafe levels of the chemicals in the caulking, and work to remove them began Aug. 24, said Gerard Cody, the town’s health director.
The removal was to be completed before the first day of classes on Aug. 31, but town inspectors measured even higher levels of PCBs in some of the building’s rooms.
PCBs are believed to harm the immune and reproductive systems. Studies have linked them to cancer, according to the EPA.
