[CPEO-BIF] Behind the Winston-Salem school-closing decision

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Board not willing to gamble with uncertainty, fear

by BERTRAND M. GUTIERREZ AND ARIKA HERRON 
Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
February 12, 2015 1


In the end, highly contaminated groundwater under the campus of Hanes and Lowrance middle schools was just one of many toxic elements that prompted the decision to close those schools.

Others included the urgent need to rectify academic programs knocked off kilter by unprecedented absences, the erosion of trust between parents and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and the challenges of adequately assessing whether contaminants under the ground were seeping into the buildings.

“Make no mistake: At this point, the schools are toxic, irrespective of what the test results show,” Carol Templeton, a Hanes parent, said Tuesday night during a meeting of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education.

“The schools are toxic because they are sitting on poisonous water that can emit harmful vapor and because parents have lost trust. 

…


For the entire article, see
http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/board-not-willing-to-gamble-with-uncertainty-fear/article_6c450fe8-b25e-11e4-8fe9-c7c366d5b633.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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