workers
safety and health
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A toxic elementary school in Southwest
Detroit has made construction workers sick and outraged parents whose children
are scheduled to attend the school this fall. The new elementary school is in a
low-income, predominately African-American and Hispanic neighborhood with a
large number of Spanish-speaking immigrants. The land where it is being built is
contaminated with arsenic, PCBs, and other cancer causing chemicals. Environmental racism is the issue as
the school district, which was taken over by the state of Michigan in 1998,
rushes to prove itself to city residents. Viewing the residents of the Beard
neighborhood as politically and economically marginal constructing a school on
toxic land seemed possible. Two members of Ironworkers 25 developed
rashes while working on the site. Six members of Plumbers 98 were made sick with
nausea and rashes. The unions were not warned of these problems by the school
system or the contractors, instead they found out through the media. AFSCME 345 represents about 2000 DPS
workers who maintain the buildings, drive buses, assist teachers and serve food
in the schools. Percy Jackson, AFCME 345 President, says, “I don’t think the
health of the workers and kids is being taken seriously by the school system.
It’s a public relations show of putting up buildings fast. Technologically
advanced buildings are no substitute for the health of workers and students.” “The workers being transferred have
real concerns about the new elementary schools. We’re concerned what will
happen when water seeps into the building. We’re concerned about the
contractor being used because we know the same contractor left problems at King
High School and the Cass Tech addition,” says Keith January, AFSCME 345
Executive Vice President. There is agreement that old Beard
Elementary School – built in 1886 – should be replaced. It has no cafeteria,
a tiny gym, and the 563 students are overcrowded.
New state-of-the-art schools are a welcome improvement in Detroit, a city
whose students have been neglected far too long. The land was used for industrial
purposes for over 70 years. A brick factory was built there in 1916 and a brass
foundry in the 1920s. Later uses included manufacturing steel, radiators, paint,
adhesives, lead batteries, and pharmaceuticals. The Army donated the land to the
school system in 1965 after using it as a military training site. Detroit Public
Schools used it as a vocational training center and repair garage until 1981
when the buildings were demolished. Despite DPS claims that they knew what
was going on at the site DPS was surprised when two unknown 10,000 gallon
underground tanks were discovered during construction. They were again surprised
when a berm was built with contaminated dirt from a different school site. When
the toxic soil was removed it was dumped in a vacant lot in the neighborhood.
Testing of the site has been incomplete
and limited. Eight “hot spots” were tested turning up evidence of high
levels of dangerous lead, arsenic, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and
trichloroethylene. In early May the Detroit Public School system, relying on the
limited testing, claimed that the site was clean enough to open in September.
The solution, according to DPS was to truck soil away and cover the ground with
a cap. There was public outrage and later in
May $45,000 was set aside to do complete testing. Mary Beth Doyle of the Ann
Arbor Ecology Center says a comprehensive study is necessary to find out what is
really in the ground and to determine what the effects on students, teachers and
school support staff might be. Carlos Lopez, a Detroit Public Schools
executive director, attended a meeting of Parents for Healthy Schools in early
June. The “solutions” he proposed to parents were absurd. Lopez, reported
the Michigan Citizen, told the group to “use the power of positive
thinking” regarding the health of children attending an elementary school
built on toxic land. SEMCOSH is concerned too. “Positive
thinking” won’t save children, construction workers, teachers and support
staff from heavy metal toxics. Whether you’re a worker or a parent, if you
have your own concerns about this situation please call our office at
313-961-3345. Did
working on the toxic elementary make you sick? |
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