Cleanup of lead in Island Trees High School is done

The Island Trees school district has completed a $560,000 cleanup of lead in the basement of its high school, state and county officials have confirmed.

Wipe samples taken in basement tunnels, a basement art room and rooms above the affected area and tests on ducts show no residual contamination, officials said.

Administrative and clerical staff, who had relocated to the middle school in July, moved back into the high school building last week and custodial staff are working overtime to prepare for the first day of school on Sept. 7, district superintendent Charles Murphy said Monday.

Completing the project on Aug. 13 brought to a close a problem that dates to 1999, when sand containing lead bullet fragments was moved from a defunct rifle range in the basement to the adjacent tunnel.

An engineering firm must conduct annual inspections of the basement, where the lead-contaminated areas have been encapsulated in concrete, to ensure that the cap is sound, said state Department of Environmental Conservation spokeswoman Aphrodite Montalvo.

If the building's use as a school ends, she said, contaminated material must be removed and placed in a registered facility.

In March 2008, the federal Environmental Protection Agency collected samples throughout the high school, and found elevated lead levels in spots where dust had accumulated for years. EPA officials said the result was not unusual, because lead is present throughout the environment. Following the agency's recommendation, the district cleaned the school and its air ventilation system that summer and fall.

Also that year, the contaminated basement areas were covered with double-layered polyethylene sheeting, to prevent the spread of lead dust.

Subsequent tests of the ventilation system showed lead levels within allowable limits of 400 parts per million.

But last year high levels were found in 11 of 176 basement samples, the highest at 15,100 ppm.

Remediation began in July. Summer school and camps used the middle school while work was done, Murphy said.

Workers laid gravel, then concrete, and finally fabric that prevents dust from escaping. Then they cleaned the ducts, Montalvo said.

"If there is any lead left, it's under concrete," Murphy said.

The school board appropriated $400,000 for the project, including studies on the best mitigation technique. The final cost - after the DEC requested additional air tests, and training and blood tests for the workers - came to about $560,000, said Susan Hlavenka, assistant superintendent for business.

The board appropriated another $160,000 in May, she said, adding the state has pledged to pay for 58 percent of eligible costs.