Washington Township Board of Education to continue testing during next few weeks
On Jan. 22 and 29, Superintendent of Schools Joseph Bollendorf sent letters to the parents of Washington Township School District students regarding the issue of mercury in gymnasium floors in Bells, Birches, Wedgwood and Whitman elementary schools and Bunker Hill Middle School.
The Jan. 22 letter states, “In 1997, and for many years prior, mercury was a popular additive used by contractors to quicken the curing time of rubberized floors. We learned that because it was an additive, the presence of mercury was not required to be listed in the manufacturing specifications of the floor, referred to as the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). Additional rubberized floors were installed in the district in 2005 and 2006, well after the year 2000 when the federal government prohibited mercury as a curing agent.”
The Jan. 22 letter continues, stating the district had air-quality tests done in the five schools during summer 2017.
“The air samples came back indicating there are little to no mercury vapor emissions from our floors. The results have been reviewed and accepted by our air-quality contractor, Coastal Environmental, our district engineer from Remington and Vernick and the New Jersey Department of Health.”
The letter states the district will continue testing the floors over the next few weeks. Per the letter, the samples will be sent to “an accredited laboratory” using the NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) method 6009.
The Jan. 29 letter states the floor at Bunker Hill Middle School contained 1.8 parts per million of mercury. Bells Elementary School contained .64 parts per million of mercury. The letter says, “If the presence of mercury exceeds .2 ppm, the floor has to be handled in a specific way if it is being disposed of.”
The parts per million is of no relation to the air quality, it strictly refers to the amount of any chemical in the floor.
The letter outlined the district’s plan moving forward.
“Regardless, we have secured a vendor who will be conducting the NIOSH method 6009 testing on all six floors installed in 1997. This is the more thorough test recommended for floors containing more than one ppm of mercury. These tests will be conducted and analyzed by a certified industrial hygienist. We are being very aggressive to ensure our testing is being completed as quickly as possible, and we will update our page when new information becomes available.”
Information regarding the mercury issue, including both letters, a statement from the engineer and results from the air-quality test can be found at wtps.org/Page/27394.
At the Jan. 29 board of education meeting, resident Colette Staab addressed the board.
“This statement is not accurate,” she said of Bollendorf’s letters. “Bunker Hill Middle School was tested for air quality a year and four months after the repair was made. Excessive levels of mercury were discovered in March 2017, yet no air testing was done at that time. Floors were partially resurfaced August 2017, so that means kids were exposed to unknown levels up to this point. Air tests were done Dec. 27 during our holiday break 2018, and were reported to the schools in the beginning of January.”
Staab continued, saying the NIOSH standards are set for adults, not children.
“Also remember that mercury vapors stay low to the ground, basically elementary kid level,” she said. “Bunker Hill Middle School was nine times the limit for safe removal. If it exceeds the guidelines for handling it by nine times, what do you think the air vapor was at that time? We will never know since it was not tested.”
Bollendorf responded, “I said it before, I’ll say it again, at the end of the day I’m the superintendent of this district. At the end of the day, if this community wants somebody’s head on a platter it shall be mine. It’s my responsibility regardless of what I may have known or not known. It’s my job to know and I take full responsibility for that.”
He said he wants to continue sampling every rubberized floor in the district, regardless of when it was built.
“We want to be certain and show the public that if in fact our floors are safe, which we believe them to be, that they are going to be proven safe,” Bollendorf said. “If we have an issue with any of the floors, then a remedial plan will be put immediately into place.”
