School officials report C wing is safe for use
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

JACKSON - The C wing at Jackson Memorial High School has been given a clean bill of health.

"With the start of the new semester at Jackson Memorial, construction work for the remainder of the school year is complete and students and staff have returned to the classrooms in the C wing of Reider Hall that were affected by the construction," Superintendent of Schools Thomas Gialanella said. "I am pleased that the work is finished and that our students and staff can begin the new semester where they belong."

Gialanella said the construction process was a challenge for students, staff, administrators and parents.

"We are eager to move forward with the school year," he said. "I realize there are students and staff who may still have questions or concerns about the projects and we will be happy to continue to provide all the information we can to help address their concerns. We want all of our students and staff to be as confident in the facility as we are."

Allison Erwin, communications specialist for the school district, said all the construction has been finished and the students are back in the C wing classrooms.

When the 2006-07 school year began, the C wing was under construction. Classes continued to be held in the C wing until mid- to late-November when there was concern regarding construction dust and debris, Erwin said.

An abatement contractor was hired to take air samples and, in the meantime, students were moved to other classrooms in the school.

Erwin said the workers finished the construction over the weekend of Jan. 27 in the bathrooms and the science laboratories in the C wing.

Jan. 29 was a transition day between semesters.

"On transition day, the air company (an outside agency) came in again," Erwin said. "They did another whole round of air testing, all of which came back absolutely fine and the next day the students were back in the classroom."

The C wing construction work was the last part of one phase of a construction project that began last summer.

The overall project will ultimately include renovations to 20 bathrooms, four science labs, computer labs and the Reider Hall media center.

As is the case in many older buildings, the presence of asbestos was a concern in items such as floor tiles, the mastic or glue used to adhere the tile to the floor, pipe joints, science lab table tops and window sills.

"This last round of testing, like the other batteries of tests we had performed each time any asbestos-containing material was found and removed, confirmed that the school remains a safe environment for everyone," Gialanella said.

He said that in addition to the numerous private air tests performed over the past few months, the school has been inspected by state and federal health and safety agencies, none of which found any evidence of air quality problems.

Other issues identified during the inspections are outlined below:

+ Inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Oct. 26 and Dec. 26 found the district to be out of compliance in certain areas related to record-keeping, notifications, training and scheduling of periodic inspections. The district has taken steps to correct those procedural shortcomings and to comply with the regulations.

+ A Jan. 19 report from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health (PEOSH) program stated there were no violations of the PEOSH Hazard Communication, Respiratory Protection and Occupational Injury and Illness Reporting Regulations Standards observed during inspections on Dec. 14, Dec. 28 and Jan. 5.

Gialanella said the PEOSH report did indicate one "potential violation" in the school district's failure to provide an asbestos awareness training course for custodial staff who work in the area, which is similar to the area of non-compliance that administrators have been working to correct.

+ On Jan. 23, an EPA reinspection resulted in a request for the district to reclean and reinspect an area inside a pipe chase, or cavity, in an unused closet near Room 126 after additional debris was found.

Gialanella said the inspector stated that the finding did not amount to an unsafe environment, but directed the district to reclean and reinspect the area. He said that particular closet is an unused space that remains locked and only one person has the key. Administrators have hired an outside company to complete the final cleanup and believe that recommendation from the EPA will be satisfied quickly.