Island Trees Union Free School District

74 Farmedge Road

2nd floor

Levittown, New York 11756

September 8, 2008

To All Parents/Guardians and Residents of Island Trees:

RESPONSE TO NEWSDAY ARTICLE

Please allow this letter to clarify recent events and publications regarding the safety at the high school.

In response to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYSDEC) involvement in the lead remediation matter at the high school, in 2004, the district hired an environmental attorney, Fred Eisenbud, Esq. and subsequently a consulting engineer, James DeMartinis of J.R. Holzmacher, to act as liaisons to NYSDEC, New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and Nassau County Department of Health (NCDOH) to implement a remediation project to ensure full compliance with their requirements.  All these state and local agencies have recognized the district’s cooperation and more importantly have assured the district both verbally and in writing that the school is safe.  As stated in Donald W. Miles’, Section Chief, Bureau or Environmental Exposure Investigation, NYSDOH, letter dated August 27, 2008 and distributed to the public at the August 28^th special board meeting, “Based on our understanding of the work accomplished by the school district and the sampling conducted by the agencies, the lead problem should not prevent the staff and students from using the building as normal when the school year starts.” 

As stated in my recent letter posted on the district’s website, this past spring and summer the district has fully complied with all five of the following recommendations made by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): 1) comprehensive cleaning of the high school, 2) immediate remediation of the prop room, 3) assessment of the HVAC system, 4) sampling of the sediment in the sand tunnel and concrete walkway and 5) encapsulation of the sand tunnels. As stated

at the August 28^th special school board meeting by a representative from H2M, the district’s architectural firm, their recent HVAC Assessment Report illustrates that no air is being pulled from the sand tunnel into the rest of the building.  Moreover, the recent sampling of the sand tunnel adjacent to the prop room revealed satisfactory results.

 It was the district’s testing contractor that discovered the recent high levels of lead in the original sand tunnel (not the tunnel adjacent to the prop room).  This prompted the NYSDEC to come back after two years to take more samples which necessitated cutting and resealing the polyethylene.

As part of the ongoing plan regarding this matter and as expressed at the August 28^th school board meeting I am recommending to the Board to declare Monday, September 29^th a Superintendent’s Conference Day so that the HVAC system at the high school may be cleaned beginning September 27 through October 1.  Accordingly, pending Board approval, all schools would be closed for students so that staff may engage in staff development activities at our other schools.  This will allow a contractor a five day period to complete this work at the high school.

The safety of our students and staff has always been and will continue to be a priority.