Soil at Ben Franklin School Tests Positive for PCB
Soil below a cafeteria window at Ben Franklin Elementary School in Shrub Oak has tested positive for harmful PCBs and will be cleaned up this summer.
Lakeland School District officials received a verbal report Thursday that a small area of dirt had a low concentration of polychlorinated biphenyl, which was likely caused from caulking material. Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Stone said the area would be fenced off for the remainder of the school year.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Stone said. “The report is actually good news that it’s in a very limited area.”
Concerned resident Daniel Lefkowitz, a retired podiatrist and environmental activist, contacted the federal Environmental Protection Agency a few months ago regarding caulking around windows and doors at the school. The EPA then notified Lakeland officials and tests were taken by an independent lab.
“Removing caulking is not a big deal. It’s a big deal if it’s in the soil samples,” Lefkowitz said. “The bottom line is always for the safety of the kids.”
Approximately 570 students in kindergarten through fifth grade attend Ben Franklin School. According to the EPA, PCBs have been shown to cause cancer in animals, and there’s also evidence it can cause cancer and other health problems in humans.
Stone said only a limited amount of windows at the school were tested. All of the windows at the school are scheduled to be replaced next year. He noted it was too early to estimate how much the soil remediation would cost.
A summer camp is held at Ben Franklin, but Stone emphasized the contaminated soil was not located where children play.
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