to students is minimal
Monmouth County health official says risk
to students is minimal
By alison granito
Staff Writer
JERRY WOLKOWITZ After the tarp covering a painting project on the municipal water tower near Allentown High School ripped last week, the Upper Freehold Regional school district closed the school’s annex while tests were conducted to see if the building was contaminated by lead paint dust.
ALLENTOWN — School officials stuck by the old adage of better safe than sorry last week, shutting down the Allentown High School annex building after a tarp covering repainting work on a nearby water tower ripped in heavy winds.
According to Upper Freehold Regional School District Superintendent Dr. Robert Connelly, six of the seven classrooms in the building were opened for classes again on Monday after being closed late in the day of Sept. 11 and last Thursday and Friday for testing by the Monmouth County Health Department.
One science class room showed slight contamination on a countertop right underneath a window that was open when the incident occurred. Since testing by the health department and a licensed lead risk assessor showed a very slight level of contamination, Connelly said the district scheduled a licensed lead environmental cleanup firm to come in and remove the dust on Tuesday.
After that cleanup takes place, he said the area will be retested to make sure it falls below the lead dust clearance standard.
"The health risk to everyone, if any, is minimal due to the careful planning of the project, fast response, actions taken, and follow-up in the buildings," wrote Jeryl Krautle, a senior public health nurse with the county health department who performed testing on the annex, in a letter distributed to parents and teachers on Friday.
Krautle’s letter also explained that "lead poisoning is due to long-term exposures to lead and has a cumulative effect in a young child’s body." There was no cause for great alarm since adults and adolescents metabolize lead slowly, she said.
Connelly said that shutting down the annex as a preventative measure displaced classes for between 100-140 students.
"Our decision to close the building was proactive. Frankly, we were initially more worried about physical debris, given that our building is closest to the project site," the superintendent said.
"However, we decided to err on the side of caution and remove the students from the building," he said.
Pieces of metal that supported the tarp covering the 140-foot-high tower fell to the ground, and Connelly said school officials were worried that more debris would come down in the high winds.
The borough of Allentown is engaged in an ongoing project to remove lead-based paint on the tower and repaint it.
Despite the incident, Connelly praised the way the borough has run the project, calling it "highly regulated."
"The work for the day has been cleaned up every evening as promised," Connelly said.