WHERE CULTURE
COURIER L 20 IFE, AUG. 30-SEPT 5, 2019
Lead-ing the charge
Coney Island lawmaker spearheads
assault on de Blasio’s lead policy
LEADING THE WAY: Councilman Mark Treyger (center) urged DOE to investigate lead contamination
in elementary schools’ common areas — like cafeterias and hallways — before the
start of the school year on Sept. 5. Andrew Kist
BY ROSE ADAMS
Coney Island Councilman Mark Treyger
slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio on
Monday for failing to properly investigate
lead contamination in elementary
schools, claiming common spaces like
cafeterias and hallways remain suspect
as the fi rst day of school looms on
Sept. 5.
“It is inconceivable that lead was
banned almost 60 years ago and yet
still exists in our schools,” Treyger
wrote in a letter to schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza, signed by 33 of the
51 City Council members, including
Speaker Corey Johnson, Councilman
Justin Brannan (D–Bay Ridge), and
Councilman Chaim Deutch (D–Sheepshead
Bay).
A Department of Education study
published in July found that 360 classrooms
in 114 Brooklyn elementary
schools have peeling paint contaminated
by highly toxic lead particles ,
and de Blasio claimed the city would
take swift action to remediate the poison
— which causes developmental
delay, learning diffi culties, abdominal
pain, and seizures, among other
illnesses — by the beginning of the
school year, but local pols argue that
only treating classroom space is not
enough.
Treyger, in a previous letter fi red
off to school offi cials on Aug. 14, asked
authorities to investigate “ancillary
spaces,” which include art rooms, libraries,
stairwells, and cafeterias for
lead particles, but de Blasio dismissed
the concern at press conference the following
day, claiming that it’s unlikely
kids would eat paint outside the classroom.
“You don’t get lead chips in your
mouth walking through a hallway or
lead dust on you walking through a
hallway. The real question is the classrooms,”
de Blasio said. “We have to
believe there’s an actual problem and
specifi c need to go after it, but, if we
fi nd it, we will.”
Treyger went tit-for-tat with hizzoner
in Monday’s follow-up letter to
Carranza, condemning de Blasio’s disregard
for the safety of Kings County
kids.
“We believe the Administration’s
reaction to this serious issue
is insufficient and downplays the
seriousness of lead contamination,”
Treyger wrote. “Stating that contaminated
secondary spaces, such
as stairways, don’t pose a threat to
children simply isn’t true. Responses
that diminish the risk posed by lead
contamination in secondary spaces
are divorced from the reality of how
children behave.”
The Department of Education did
not comment on whether it will investigate
Treyger’s concerns, but claimed
that it is working to fi nish removing
the toxic ink from inside the classrooms.
“We’re going to continue doing everything
we can to keep our keep kids
safe in school. We’re completing remediation
in classrooms and we’re
currently reviewing our policy on
common spaces and will have more
to say soon,” said DOE spokeswoman
Miranda Barbot.
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