Discussion on Ceiling Tile Removal at Estabrook Could Follow Latest Air Test Results

Test results expected within the next week will reveal whether ceiling tiles at Estabrook Elementary School are a major or minor contributor to the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) air levels at the school, said Superintendent Paul Ash.

At Tuesday night's School Committee meeting, Ash provided the committee with an update on the Estabrook situation, including work done at the school Sept. 25 through 27 after students were moved from the kindergarten wing. Those classes remain in temporary spaces.

The ceiling tiles in the kindergarten wing, rooms 1 to 6, were covered with polyethylene sheets, and further caulk encapsulation was completed. After doing so, workers took air samples in the rooms.

A significant drop in PCB levels after in the latest air samples would indicate the tiles are a major source of PCBs in the air, Ash said, and results from the testing should be available within a week.

"We've made lot progress," Ash said. "We'll know in a week the impact of encapsulation."

Depending on the results, a decision will be made on how soon the ceiling tiles (which are not manufactured with PCBs but have been found to have absorbed PCBs from the air over the 50-year life of the school) need to be removed.

"We will have to make a decision – do we remove the ceiling tiles or not in the short term?" Ash said. "They have to go – either now, next summer or when the building comes down."

It would be up to the School Committee to decide when to remove the ceiling tiles, Ash said, however any decision would need approval from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

So far, an initial $150,000 transfer from town reserve funds, and a second transfer of $250,000, has been made by the Appropriation Committee to pay for work at the school since August.

Ash said he no longer feels comfortable spending money on the Estabrook work without the School Committee and other town boards being a part of the decision-making process. To date, work at the school has cost about $750,000.

Replacing the ceiling tiles throughout the entire school could cost $1 million, Ash estimated.

"That kind of money can only be spent with the support of Town Meeting and a lot of other people," Ash said. "It's the community making that decision."

School Committee Chairman Rodney Cole noted that spending so far has not been done unilaterally, and school officials have been working closely with the town manager, finance director, facilities department and others.

"Very little has come out of the school budget," he said. "A lot of people are involved in this."

The School Committee expects to talk about Estabrook again at its Oct. 19 meeting. In the meantime, the committee has authorized the the superintendent to go forward with creating an emergency Statement of Interest (SOI) to submit to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to speed up the process of potentially getting state funding to build a new school.

Tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 6, the town's first financial summit is being held at the Town Office Building between the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Appropriation Committee and Capital Expenditures Committee.

While the town's fiscal 2012 budget and revenue and expenditure outlook are slated for discussion, Estabrook also appears on the agenda, including discussion on holding a special Town Meeting.

The summit is at 7:30 p.m. in the Selectmen's Meeting Room.

More information on the Estabrook situation and work being done can be found on the Lexington Public Schools' health and safety page.