Vague Email Tells Park Slope Parents Chemicals Found In School

PARK SLOPE, NY — City officials sent parents of a Park Slope elementary school an email warning about carcinogens found in the soil, but failed to mention what they were. A website it directed readers to for more information was the wrong one.

The Department of Education's email went out to parents of current and former students at P.S. 321 saying that high-levels of chemicals were found in the soil of the school on Wednesday afternoon, but provided little information.

"That letter probably went to thousands of parents and it contained zero information," said Joanna Oltman Smith, whose two sons previously attended the school and who got the message. "It’s disappointing when the DOE doesn’t take the time to proof read and check their links."

The school's DOE website did put up a report last month that showed soil samples collected in 2016 found levels of two carcinogens — Benz(a)anthracene and Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene — higher than state environmental protocols allow, but a link in the email sent to parents instead sends them to the homepage of a different school.

Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Rose wrote in the email, provided to Patch, that the chemicals were found after soil tests during a construction project at the school and traced back to an "historic" fill on the site.

"All soil removed during construction has been transported off-site to an approved disposal facility," Rose wrote in the email. "The remaining soil at the site is covered by concrete and is not accessible to students."

The Department of Education did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

While Smith's sons have already left the P.S. 321, she worries what may lie in the soil at other schools around the city and doesn't want them to wait for construction projects to start testing.

"Don’t send out vague scary letters," said Smith. "The DOE needs to be much more proactive about testing for possible carcinogens in environments kids spend their entire day in."

Image: Patch file photo