Feds check out air quality after complaints at school work site
By Kathy Baratta
Staff Writer
A
n ongoing construction project at the Taylor Mills School, Taylors Mills Road, Manalapan, has been the source of complaints of illness among students and recently brought representatives of a federal agency to town.
Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Superintendent of Schools Joseph Scozzari confirmed that a representative of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) showed up unannounced at the school on May 30 after being contacted by the parent of a pupil.
Scozzari said OSHA representative Gary Ludwig was at the school from early morning until the end of the school day taking air quality readings.
The superintendent said a final written report of Lud-wig’s test findings is being prepared.
He noted, however, that Ludwig indicated at the end of his daylong visit that he had not found toxic levels in the air of any material that would compromise the health of people in the building.
Scozzari said due to the ongoing construction of an addition at the elementary school, earth-moving equipment that is diesel-powered has been in use.
That has resulted in "some complaints of sickness by some children" over the course of the weeks the equipment has been in use on site.
He said recent weather conditions have contributed to the problem because on wet, rainy days the fumes don’t dissipate easily. Work stoppages due to rain have made the earth-moving phase of the project drag out longer than had been estimated, he added.
Scozzari said on days when the problem was noticeable, classes were moved from the vicinity of the work area but some students still complained.
The superintendent ex-plained there are vents in every classroom that can be closed to keep out the outside air or opened to let it in. He said the vents will be used along with fans in the classrooms.
Scozzari said this portion of the project is almost complete, and he believes the problem will end once the diesel-powered equipment is no longer on site.

