Patch Exclusive: Kenly Elementary Radon Alert!

Buried in Tuesday’s school board agenda is Environmental Protection Commission testing that is planned for Kenly Elementary in the Orient Park neighborhood. The EPC testing is school board agenda item 7.02. Curiously, the Agenda Cover Letteronly refers to lead and NOT radon, but buried at the very end of the Support Material it lists RADON.

So- to be perfectly clear- the Agenda Cover Letter only refers to lead and NOT radon; and the Support Material only refers to RADON and not lead.

We seriously doubt that this was an accident, particularly since this agenda item was submitted by the Facilities Department previously headed by Cathy Valdes who is known for her failure to disclose urgent matters such as the tragic death of 7 year old student Isabella Herrera from choking on a school bus. For nine months she sat in front of the school board and Superintendent and never uttered a word about this student’s death and- contrary to what you might think- Cathy Valdes was not fired or disciplined in any way for these failures; she was instead promoted to Deputy Superintendent and now sits right beside Superintendent Elia at every school board meeting. Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job (NOT!)

Radon is a radioactive gas that, when it has accumulated in a structure in sufficient quantities, may present health risks to students and teachers who are exposed to it. It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless; so students and teachers would not even know it was there- unless of course someone bothered to tell them. So did the facilities department bother to tell them or are they trying to keep this quiet like the death of Isabella Herrera?

Their policies and training were out of date in December of 2011 when a child was left on a bus for most of the day. The school board’s failure to act here arguably led to the death of Isabella Herrera who was allowed to choke on a school bus without anyone calling 911 in January of 2012. This was then kept quiet for 9 months and this failure to act arguably led to the next death of Jenny Caballero later in October of 2012.

Stacy White and April Griffin do not deserve your vote.

Don’t risk another student death. What is the policy for radon and informing students and teachers about this radioactive gas testing? Is there any policy at all? And what happened at Kenly Elementary to cause the EPC to come out and test for radon? Be sure to ask this at the school board meeting on Tuesday.

Read all the latest school district machinations at Scott Adams blog.