Tainted Soil Forces Closure NJ Middle School (What? NJ Has Some Untainted Soil Left?)

Tainted Soil Forces Closure Of Paramus School

WCBS-TV News
May 30, 2007

(CBS/AP) PARAMUS, N.J. A local middle school was ordered to shut down after officials determined the soil surrounding the school was contaminated. Police cars were called to block the entrance to West Brook Middle School and barriers surrounded the school's perimeter after the Paramus mayor had the school close its doors on Wednesday because high levels of three pesticide chemicals were found in the soil.

Those pesticides include Chlordane, used for termite prevention, and Dieldrin, an agricultural pesticide that has caused liver cancer in test animals. Officials say the soil is contaminaed with nearly 40 times higher than state safety guidelines allowed, and that news has upset many parents of students at the school.

"We're scared, there should a criminal investigation," one parent told CBS 2 HD. Fueling the outrage is the fact that parents were told about the contamination just last week. School officials knew about the problem for months, says Paramus Mayor James Tedesco, who made the decision to close the school last night.

"I have a copy of a report with the results of the test that is dated December 29, 2006," Tedesco said. The tainted ground was unearthed during trench work. Wednesday morning workers from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection carted it all away. "It's a shame these children's educations are being interrupted. They're out there walking the streets and they really need to be in school," said Carol Cameron, whose grandchild attends the school.

There is no word yet as to when classes will resume, and there are mixed feelings from many of the school's 700 students. "I'm happy and scared. Happy because we have school off, but scared because we haven't been told about it for quite some time," said 8th grader Kunal Malkan. "I'm not sure whether something may have come into the room and if I might get sick or somebody else will get sick."

All three of the pesticides found in the soil have been banned by the federal government since the 1980s. Officials say the school will be closed for the next three days and possibly longer while all the contaminated soil is removed and additional testing done.

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