Environmental Health and Safety Committee Report
May 1, 2002
At the April 16 PA General Meeting, parents voted by a
margin of about 2 to 1 in favor of giving the PA the
authority, through the use of its pro-bono counsel, to
undertake legal action against the Board of Education
of the City of New York and any other necessary
parties, in order to require those entities to ensure
that the air ducts and unit ventilators at Stuyvesant
High School are professionally cleaned.
We are sorry to report that the Board of Education
continues to resist cleaning Stuyvesant.s ductwork and
classroom unit ventilators, neither of which has been
cleaned since the events of 9/11. However, following
the PA vote, the Board of Education has commenced
testing of the ducts and unit ventilators. We expect
to receive the test results in approximately one week.
On April 10, we learned for the first time that five
weeks earlier the Board of Education.s environmental
vendor unilaterally changed the settings on one of the
instruments used to measure particulate matter (PM
2.5) in the school. On February 25, the Dusttrak was
arbitrarily reset so that measurements would read 66%
lower than previously. On March 4, it was reset to
read 50% lower than it had originally been reading.
It is our understanding that these altered readings
are not reflected in the data that has been supplied
to the PA (i.e., environmental results the PA receives
and posts are not altered). These events were part of
an effort to compare disparities in results for
measuring PM 2.5 produced by different measuring
methods. Nevertheless, these events are of concern for
two reasons:
- The PA.s environmental expert, Howard Bader, was
not consulted or informed of the changes.
- The recalibration was not performed in
accordance with custom calibration procedures
specified in the manufacturer.s Operation and Service
Manual for the Dusttrak Aerosol Monitor (TSI
Incorporated, March 2002, pages 31-32).
With regard to particulate contaminants, parents
should be aware of the following continuing concerns:
- Averaged measurements and graphs, such as those
presented recently by the Board of Education, do not
always provide accurate representations of levels of
contamination when events occur episodically rather
than on a regular basis.
- Ductwork and unit ventilators still have not been
cleaned.
- Although outdoor air quality has substantially
improved, contaminants are still entering the school,
as evidenced by the PM 2.5 readings of April 17, which
exceed EPA guidelines.
With regard to the physical and mental health of the
Stuyvesant community, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention / National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH) released its preliminary
report of its Health Hazard Evaluation of the Staff of
Stuyvesant, conducted on January 29, 2002. Its
preliminary findings include the following:
>About 50-60% of the staff reported respiratory
symptoms after the WTC disaster, a majority of which
were new onset symptoms.
About 30-40% of those who experienced physical
symptoms improved by January 29.
33% of Stuyvesant staff reported symptoms suggestive
of depression and 23% reported symptoms suggestive of
post-traumatic stress disorder.
As neither the Board of Education nor the Department
of Health has conducted an epidemiological study of
the Stuyvesant students, the PA Environmental Health &
Safety Committee initiated an internal study of its
own. Preliminary results are as follows:
To date over 430 responses have been received.
About two-thirds of the respondents indicated new
incidence of illness since the return to school on
October 9, 2001.
We encourage all parents to complete the Confidential
Questionnaire (available on the PA website at
www.stuypa.org) and mail it back to the PA.
Sheldon Stachel,
Chair, Environmental Health & Safety Committee
How to Help
Environmental Updates
In the Press
Photos after Sept 11
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