FOLLOW UP ON THE MHHS HEALTH AND SAFETY CONCERNS

Hi All,
Forgive me on my delay in writing to you but there was / have been a lot going on behind the scenes. I would like to update you on what we have done and what we would like to do next.  Please pass this around to as many folks as you know or inform them as to where they can keep up to date with our efforts.

First, I would like to re-state to you what our sole objective is.  Our children should be, need to be, and are entitled to a safe, healthy environment to be taught in.  It is apparent from the position of a parent that these conditions are not acceptable and potentially have serious health implications to our children and our educators.

Although I can and will  continue to correspond via e-mail it is more efficient and prudent that we find a different means that is easier for all.  Thanks to Adrian Bing-Zeremba we now have a facebook page that has pictures of the school, discussion areas and information regarding health and safety for all of us to get educated.  The address is http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Concerned-Parents-of-Meeting-House-Hill-School-New-Fairfield-CT/160686310631678.

Simply go to facebook and search for "Concerned Parents of meeting House Hill School" and you will find it.

I have had conversations with several local elected officials, candidates, etc. regarding this situation and there is a legitimate concern.  I reached out to Richard Smith who responded immediately to me expressing his concern.  He then wrote a note to the John Hodge and Kim Hansen.  Their response was standard "we are within state limits".  By the tone of Richards e-mail he was not satisfied and plans to address this at a state level if elected.  I also reached out to Ken Neal.  Ken called me directly and was equally concerned about how this is being handled and provided direction to me on how it should be handled.  Ken requested that I continue to follow up with him as this was also of great concern to him.  It did not appear that this decision to place the children in this environment makes much sense to anyone.

Monika Thiel took the time to call me and spend a fair amount of time with me over the phone and offered her assistance.  As a person on the board of selectmen she is concerned about the process and level of experience of the people hired to do this work.  She and I shared the same concerns.  From my initial observations at the meeting that the school administrators held it was evident to me that these well intentioned folks were in way over their heads and are inexperienced in scoping, planning, budgeting and running a project like this.  

In the interest of providing factual information and not spreading hysteria, I have contacted several trade organizations with regard to the materials in the building.  I have contacted the ASCC which is the industry group for concrete and safety around handling, area protection, etc. of people when using concrete / concrete products.  I have also contacted an environmental solutions company to inquire about testing of gases, particles, PCB abatement, asbestos abatement, air quality, etc. etc.  So far, the one consistent message that I have received from all that have responded is that the children should not be in that environment - period.  I will be providing the information to the facebook page as it comes in to me.  (I am not there yet but I intend to have it complete and update it regularly).

What I have learned is that although the DEP has some guidelines the EPA does not.  They are not sure what is safe vs. what is unsafe.  This is the exact reason why you NEVER TRUST GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WHEN YOUR HEALTH IS INVOLVED.  

The EPA's mission statement is ;

EPA's Mission

The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment

The DEP's mission statement is ;

About Us Mission StatementFounded in 1971, the mission of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is to conserve, improve and protect the natural resources and environment of the State of Connecticut in such a manner as to encourage the social and economic development of Connecticut while preserving the natural environment and the life forms it supports in a delicate, interrelated and complex balance, to the end that the state may fulfill its responsibility as trustee of the environment for present and future generations.

What I can tell you is that they did not know what each other did.  It was pretty funny - but not really.  So, what I can tell you is that the DEP is state run and the EPA is run by the federal government.  If you go to the websites for each of teh agencies you will see that the DEP is more about licensing and making sure the groups / trades /people that they issue permits to are doing things in a manner that the DEP requires them to do it.  The EPA appears to be more about protecting people then licensing.  Seems to me (all opinion and cynical here) is that the DEP is about taxing through licensing.  That has no bearing on this discussion - just my 2 cents.  What is interesting here is that although the DEP has guidelines the EPA does not  so somebody decided to put a stake in the ground and determine what is safe for the sake of having a guideline.   DO YOU REALLY TRUST THEM TO KEEP OUR KIDS SAFE AND HEALTHY ?

I was advised to request a separate meeting with the Dept. of Buildings, Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen to present or concerns  and most importantly our facts with regard to this issue.  I am moving as quickly as I can to gather this but we need to be organized and have our facts straight.  So, that being said, anyone who has experience in building / renovating / managing schools from an administrative / facilities perspective or anyone involved in the construction process of schools or anyone that is directly involved in the process of protecting children, or anyone that is involved in air quality testing, water quality testing, environmental testing please present as much relevant, factual information to me and the group as possible.  Also - if you have found information that rebuts what our position is then please let me know as we do not want to create hysteria and take uninformed, uneducated, or inaccurate positions.  That is not fair to those that will hear our concerns and will prevent us from having this situation addressed.  We will be dismissed if we are not relevant.

Regards,
Steve

Steven Roe, CEO
West Highland Support Services, LLC60 E. 42nd St.
Suite 401
New York, NY 10165
(0) 212 867 1848 x111
(C) 917 513 1871

sroe10@charter.net steven.roe@westhighland.net dennis.wixted@westhighland.net adrian.bing-aremba@boehringer-ingelheim.com

MORTGAGE BUBBLE . . . COULD IT TRANSLATE INTO HIGHER PROPERTY TAXES

Home Price Index Falls 0.2% in August

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 02:29 PM PDT

In Tuesday's release of the S&P's/Case-Shiller home price index, housing prices fell by 0.2 percent in August from the month before. Fifteen of the 20 featured cities showed monthly price declines, and prices are expected to continue to drop in the coming months. Phoenix saw the largest decline with a 1.3% drop in home prices. Prices in three California cities--San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles--which had previously showed strength, also fell, but by less than 1%.

Detroit, Chicago, Washington, New York and Las Vegas were the only cities to show monthly price increases.

Although the index has risen 6.7% from its lowest level in April 2009, it remains almost 28% below its peak in July 2006.

Housing markets may continue to struggle due to recent complications with foreclosure documents. Would-be buyers are refraining from home purchases because of potentially invalid foreclosure purchases. In an October National Association of Realtors survey, about 23% of real estate agents said they had clients no longer interested in purchasing a foreclosed property due to the foreclosure mess.

GUMSHOE POLITICS AND PRESSING THE FLESH ... AND THE WINNER IS!

NEW FAIRFIELD -- Republican Richard Smith andDemocrat Ken Neal Jr. are in accord on many of the things that should happen in Hartford during the next legislative session.

• Reducing the cost of government 
• Reining in the spending 
• Rebuilding the economy 
• Both also favor expanding passenger rail service 
• oppose allowing municipalities to impose new levies
• Regionalization of Operation of towns to lower local budgets.

THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CANDIDATES IS IN THE SUPPORT OF THE DEATH PENALTY.  

Neal, who for the past three years has worked as an aide to Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan, said unhesitatingly he would obey the wishes of voters if legislation is raised in the upcoming session to repeal capital punishment.

Overwhelmingly, voters he has spoken to while going door-to-door in the district, which covers Kent, Sherman and parts of New Fairfield and New Milford, support the death penalty, Neal said.

Smith a practicing attorney, said his Christian values leave him on the fence on the issue.

While some murderers, involved in crimes such as the killing of three members of the Petit family in Cheshire three years ago, merit execution, the Bible preaches forgiveness, Smith said.

"Right now, I'm not there yet," he said.

MEETING HILL HOUSE SCHOOL AND OUR CHILDREN'S HEALTH/SAFETY

Sent: Sun, October 24, 2010 8:48:08 PM
Subject: Meeting Hill House School and our childrens health / safety

All - I am sending you a letter that I will forward on to the citizen news.  The short story is that our children are in an unhealthy environment in MHHS.  Please take a moment to read this and pass it along to as many folks as you like. 

Regards,
Steve

Steven Roe, CEO
West Highland Support Services, LLC60 E. 42nd St.
Suite 401
New York, NY 10165
(0) 212 867 1848 x111
(C) 917 513 1871

Concerned Parents of Meeting Hill House School


Recently a meeting was held by the NF School district in the MHHS cafeteria to present the status of the construction project. This was prompted by formal complaints by several parents, myself included with regard to the unsafe, unhealthy environment that our children are being taught in. What was surprising to me was that there were only 5 or 6 parents that attended this meeting. This is a very serious issue that I hope to bring to your attention.


This project is a 25 million dollar project that is to run on for 2.5 years or so and is desperately needed. The problem here is that our children, especially the 5th graders (200 wing) are sitting in class rooms that do not have ceilings or finished floors. The school is running HEPA filters to clean as much hazardous particulate out of the air as it can but there are much more serious concerns here. First, the DEP is and has been involved and is monitoring this situation. PCB’s (CANCER CAUSING CONTAMINATES) were found in the caulking and masonry. The school has covered the inside facing caulking in an attempt to
contain the hazardous chemicals. The school, at the direction of the DEP is removing 4-6 feet of soil around the school (which was contaminated with PCB’s) and 4-6 inches of brick will be cut from around the windows when the windows are to be swapped out. 


In addition, asbestos was found and we were told that it was also abated all adhering to state guidelines. On the surface you might think this is OK but it is not. Our children are in class rooms that have a particle board insulating ceiling which is filled with formaldehyde (yet another cancer causing chemical). This particle board will go through a process of out-gassing through its lifetime where the formaldehyde enters the air that the children breathe. In fairness, a lot of the out-gassing occurs when the product is first installed but it continues during the life of the product. What accelerates the out-gassing process is heat. If you have entered the school you could smell the particle board as it was out-gassing due to the heat that we have had. THIS IS NOT HEALTHY AND CAN CAUSE ASTHMA OR CANCER LATER ON IN LIFE.


Are you awake yet ? 


Next, the floor was removed and sand blasted to remove the adhesive. This has made the floor porous and very dusty. More importantly, you should be aware that the dust generated from a porous concrete floor is caustic.


That means IT CAN CAUSE CANCER. The school facilities manager takes air samples with a particle meter seeing if we are within state guidelines and we were told that we are well within state guidelines. The problem with that is how much cancer causing material do you want your children to be breathing ? Do you trust ANY state or government run agency ? You may not think this is much of an issue because the DEP is involved but they were also one of the agencies claiming the air at ground zero was safe.


Countless people have died and have contracted respiratory illnesses and cancer thanks to “government agencies”. Albeit well intentioned, the school deployed HEPA filters to continually circulate the air. This process is necessary but on a porous concrete floor and an open ceiling adds to the problem of spreading dust around. By the schools own samples we were told that the children in the 200 wing are breathing in 3 times the amount of particles then the children that are not in the area of construction.


There are many other serious issues that I will save for another time. There was a solution and the school/planning board did not elect to use it. Temporary classrooms could have (and still can be) deployed to protect our children (and our teachers) from this hazardous construction environment. We were told that the cost was 1 million dollars so it was obviously a consideration. Was the choice money vs. the health and well being of our children? It appears so. I understand that this was not budgeted for but that is why all construction projects have contingencies. 


There are many other options to get funding between grants, fund raising, philanthropic avenues, etc. Our children need to be in a safe environment and in my opinion; they do not have one at this time. I will leave you with one last piece of information; the school has contracted with a company called Hygenix who is testing the air quality.


I specifically asked the gentlemen from Hygenix how many other schools that undertake this type of project leave the children in the school. He paused for a moment and responded “not that many”.


Please get involved and be aware of your children’s health. If they have itchy eyes, skin irritation, coughing, headaches, etc. DO NOT IGNORE IT.

ANTHEM BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD ... PROTECTING YOUR HEALTH

Connecticut's largest health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, has received approval to raise rates between 19% - 44% thanks to the impact from Obamacare regulations.