First school district PCB tests detect some contamination at Warren Elementary
November 13, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
Warren Elementary School was built in 1970-71. Photo by Max Ygurra
Results of air testing done at Warren Elementary School in early September have come back with findings of PCB contamination above a state action level in one location in the school’s basement.
Harwood Unified Union School District Superintendent Mike Leichliter and Warren Principal Sam Krotinger notified families and staff at the school in a letter sent on Friday: “We are writing with some good news regarding the testing for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that took place at the Warren School during the week of September 4, 2023,” they wrote, emphasizing “good news.”
A Nov. 6 memo from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health notes that 28 locations – approximately one-third of all of the school’s rooms and spaces such as stairways and hallways were tested. Of those, none of the regularly occupied areas turned up PCB levels that require action. “No tested primary occupied room had PCB levels at or above the Vermont School Action Level for your school. Primary occupied rooms include classrooms, offices, cafeterias, gymnasiums, etc.,” the memo says.
The state Agency of Natural Resources website has a section dedicated to PCB information. Polychlorinated biphenyls – referred to as PCBs for short – are man-made chemicals that were used in building materials and electrical equipment prior to 1980. Some examples of products that may contain PCBs include caulk, paint, glues, plastics, transformers, capacitors and fluorescent lighting ballasts, according to the state environmental information. As these materials age and deteriorate, PCBs can spread into nearby porous materials or be released into dust or air.
Buildings constructed or renovated before 1980 are most likely to contain building materials that used PCBs. In 1979, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the manufacturing and use of PCBs as they were determined to cause cancer in animals and are considered probably cancer-causing in humans. The state site notes that Vermont schools in 1995 had a program to replace fluorescent lighting fixture ballasts that could have had PCBs, eliminating one common source of the contamination.
School officials say Warren Elementary School was built in 1970-71. In early September, air sampling was conducted in 31 ancillary spaces that are not occupied most of the time such as utility rooms, storage areas, bathrooms, hallways and parts of the building’s basement and attic. Another 26 locations that are regularly occupied such as classrooms, offices, the kitchen, gym and library also were checked.
District Facilities Manager Ray Daigle noted that all of the testing was air sampling, no specific materials were tested.
No changes needed to daily routines
The location that registered above the action level for a primary school was a pump room in the school basement that is used only by the school maintenance staff member briefly each day, Daigle said. The usually locked room contains equipment including electrical panels, sprinkler and fire alarm as well as well and water filtration system controls, he explained.
The finding does not require the school to make any changes in its operations at this time, school officials said.
The state lists various levels of PCB contamination requiring action based on the youngest age level of individuals using a building. The lowest grade at the Warren school is preschool which has a state action level of 30 nanograms per cubic meter. (Other thresholds are 60 ng/m3 for kindergarten through 6th grade and 100 ng/m3 for 7th grade and up.)
The state information explains that food is the main source of PCB exposure for most people. “The school action levels take into account the total exposure to PCBs for students and staff from the food they eat. That is why the school action level is lower for younger children and higher for older children and adults,” the site states.
The pump room registered 70 ng/m3, according to the state memo to school officials. Other ancillary spaces with PCBs detected were a second-floor electrical room at 16, a janitor closet at 15, and an attic space at 7. Low levels – registering 17 and 13 ng/m3 of PCBs – were also detected in two classrooms, B and A respectively; classroom suite 24/25 had a level of 7 detected, according to the state results.
School administrators met with state environmental and health officials last week. Leichliter praised the state team for its quick communication in explaining the findings and assisting with getting information to share with staff, families and the community.
The next step is for the school district to work with a contractor from a list that state environmental and health officials have approved to pinpoint the source of the PCB contamination. They will recommend remediation steps. Leichliter and Daigle said that process has just begun with the engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill which has an office in Williston. No recommendations have been made yet, nor have any costs been calculated. “We have no idea on costs. We’re just starting the conversation,” Leichliter said.
Other Harwood schools to be tested in 2024
The Warren school was the first of the Harwood district facilities to be tested. All of the schools except for Crossett Brook Middle School which was built in the late 1990s will be checked. The state’s testing schedule is posted on its PCBs in Schools site, however that list was most recently updated in September. It shows Moretown, Fayston and Waitsfield elementary schools to be tested between October and December this year, however Daigle said he believes the schedule may be slower than anticipated. He said he’s expecting the other district elementary schools to be tested in 2024.
Harwood Union Middle/High School was scheduled for fall 2024, however Leichliter last week said he requested that testing be done sooner, especially given that the district is working on renovation plans for the building with a goal of a vote on a construction bond in November 2024. Knowing the PCB testing results will be important in that process. On Friday, Leichliter said that the request was already approved and Harwood should be tested in spring 2024.
State leads on PCB testing, funding
The PCB testing program is funded by the state and it began in 2022 to check 324 Vermont schools built or renovated during the time period when PCB-containing materials were in use. The state has scheduled testing through summer 2025.
The program was prompted after extensive PCB contamination was found at Burlington High School as that district prepared to conduct a major renovation of its facility. As a result, the school was closed in 2020 and the former Macy’s department store on Burlington’s Church Street has been in use as a temporary high school.
In 2022, the state Legislature passed Act 178, in which “$32 million was set aside in the Education Fund to provide financial assistance for the additional assessment, mitigation, and corrective actions (i.e., remediation and/or removal of PCBs in schools).” That’s according to a January 2023 report to House and Senate Natural Resources committees from the Agency of Natural Resources. The report addressed additional emergency funding for equipment when schools detect contamination needing immediate attention. It also looked ahead telling lawmakers that the appropriations to date are not likely to be enough to address the PCB issue.
“Based on early results from the first schools that have been tested, it is unlikely the funding under Act 178 will be sufficient to cover the full cost of this work in every affected school building,” wrote Patricia Coppolino, a Senior Environmental Program Manager in the Department of Environmental Conservation.
In addition to the appropriation, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark in June filed suit on behalf of the State of Vermont in Chittenden County Superior Court against Monsanto, the company that manufactured, marketed, and distributed PCBs. The state alleges that Monsanto was aware of the harmful effects of PCBs, hid their negative effects from the public, and continued to produce, market, and sell them, including for use in building materials, causing damage to Vermont’s natural resources and schools.
Another lawsuit was filed this summer as well by Burlington lawyer Pietro Lynn on behalf of 93 Vermont school districts including Harwood Union. That was filed in U.S. District Court. Both actions are looking for the courts to order Monsanto to pay compensation for damage caused by PCBs including the costs of testing for and remediating PCBs in schools. Details about the latest action in the state case as it relates to the private suit in federal court are online on the Vermont Attorney General’s website and recently reported last week by VTDigger. Clark filed a request with the federal court asking it to pause its review of the school districts’ suit to let the state case proceed through state courts first.
The Harwood school district has added a PCB testing information spot on its website home page, HUUSD.org. It has links to the results letter with the Warren school information. It also links to the state data base with all school testing lab results to date including Warren Elementary. School-specific information on the state site includes a complete list of areas tested in each building and the resulting sampling data.