Odors at Bellport school sicken students

Dozens of students and teachers at a Bellport school were sickened yesterday by strong odors emanating from a nearby landfill owned by the Town of Brookhaven.

About 65 students at the Frank P. Long Intermediate School reported being lightheaded or nauseated because of the odor, which officials said may have been drawn into the building overnight by the fresh air intake system.

The incident could jeopardize a $3.5-million annual contract to accept tons of New York City sewage at the dump.

Police said 100 to 150 students and faculty members were tested at the school, which serves the fourth and fifth grades. Air-quality tests conducted at the school were negative for toxins, police and fire officials said.

A teacher and a student were taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center after complaining of nausea, officials said. Both had "underlying medical conditions," district officials said.

Joseph Cipp, South County superintendent, said the landfill, less than half a mile from the school, has emitted foul odors in the past.

"The situation has become so pronounced as to close down a school. Anything dealing with sewage being dumped there is unacceptable," he said.

Town Supervisor Mark Lesko said the town had halted deliveries of the treated sewage, commonly called sludge, to the landfill as a precaution.

Brookhaven's landfill has taken about 10,000 tons of sludge a month from New York City since June.

The town is in contact with Cipp about the future of the landfill, Lesko said.

The landfill "is one of the most heavily monitored landfills in the country," Lesko said, and tests do not reveal that the sludge is causing a hazardous condition at the school. The landfill has accepted sludge for 20 years, he said.

"The fallout could be devastating financially," if the lucrative city contract were lost, Lesko said.

The town will not resume accepting sludge until it is cleared by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Lesko said.

DEC spokesman Bill Fonda said the agency had received "numerous complaints" about odor from the landfill and was investigating. The Suffolk Department of Health is also investigating, according to the agency.

A parent, Laura Steedman, said the school had called to say her daughter Madison, 9, was having a "little problem breathing." When she arrived to pick her up, Steedman said she was shocked to find her daughter was being given oxygen.

Another parent, Lorent Scrubb, who was picking up her son, Alex Alfaro, 10, said she felt the school handled things well, calling her early in the morning and saying that he was feeling sick.

With Denise M. Bonilla

and John Valenti