School officials in the Kingston City School District this week will release a report on lead levels in three recently installed elementary school playgrounds based on a study conducted by Ulster BOCES, and have also announced plans to engage an outside firm to test for other harmful substances as well.
During a school board meeting held on Wednesday, October 11, superintendent Paul Padalino detailed the results of the BOCES testing at George Washington, Harry L. Edson and Robert R. Graves elementary schools, noting that they came in under United States Environmental Protection Agency standards.
“Our lead testing did come back at 40 milligrams per kilogram, and the EPA standard is 400 milligrams per kilograms,” he said. “They were tested in multiple locations at the playgrounds.”
Work on the district’s playgrounds has been undertaken by Playsafe Surfacing, LLC, a Plant City, Florida company laying EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber. Work is still being done at Edward R. Crosby and Chambers elementary schools, while John F. Kennedy Elementary School’s playground was renovated nearly a decade ago and is not part of the current ongoing project.
“It’s a unique combination of EPDM rubber granules and a cushion layer of shredded recycled rubber tires utilizing a European polymer that is poured in place on site providing a seamless surface for endless applications,” reads the description on the Playsafe website. “Primarily providing critical fall height protection for children on playgrounds.”
EPDM and shredded recycled tires, commonly referred to as “crumb rubber” surfaces offer a safer landing than traditional playground materials, but the combination can sometimes be toxic.
At the meeting, Padalino said the district would commit to further testing to help allay worries from parents about the playground surfaces, which some have said contain carcinogens which may become more toxic under hot conditions or in the course of normal wear and tear.
One parent’s concerns were read aloud as he was unable to attend the meeting. Alexander Morton-Adams said he and his spouse have a four-year-old child and worried about the use of “toxic material” in playgrounds in public parks and schools.
“We believe strongly in not only common sense, but evidence-based facts when choosing what to expose our children to,” read Morton-Adams’ letter. “Common sense would tell us that we wouldn’t want our children to play in a rubber tire dump, nor would we deem it okay if we simply shred the tires before allowing them to roll around in it…Next up is evidence. As our community leaders, you are tasked with countless decisions regarding education and safety and well-being, and for your hard work we say thank you. However, your lack of urgency regarding this material is alarming.”
The letter continued to share their personal experience with the surfaces.
“My son is currently playing in shredded tires at his school’s playground, and he comes home with pockets full of the stuff frequently,” read the letter. “Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine prescribes that if anyone comes into contact with this substance, they should immediately shower, wash their body and clothes, and vacuum all particles, to only name a few of the long list of precautions.”
Some parents shared that their children weren’t given an opportunity to wash their hands before returning to the classroom after recess.
“I have a six-year-old who’s a first grader and he’s let me know uh that he’s not allowed to wash his hands when he comes back from recess before going to the cafeteria to eat,” said Lee Kelly. “I see kids on the playground every day eating, drinking, playing Pokemon, picking up soccer balls. They are touching this surface.”
Kelly said that while health professionals recommend more thorough cleaning like brushing hair clean, removing and vacuuming shoes, and changing clothes, students should at a bare minimum wash their hands.
“I would beg of you to send a memorandum to the teachers and administrators and suggest, if not mandate, that at minimum we wash our kids’ hands until we can progressively investigate this issue and confirm its safety.”
Trustees agreed.
“A long cleaning is really important,” Jennifer Fitzgerald said.
“They probably come in from playground and go right to the cafeteria, so there may not be facilities,” said board president Marie Anderson. “But that is something that has to be figured out.”
In an interview with Hudson Valley One last week, Padalino said that the district planned to engage Wappingers Falls-based Quality Environmental Solutions & Technologies, Inc. (QuES&T) to conduct a more thorough study of the playground surfaces already installed in an effort to determine their safety for students.
“We’re just waiting for them to confirm when they’re going to come, but we’ve used them for other things,” he said. “They’re local and they’re pretty responsive.”
Kelly remained skeptical, adding that while the initial BOCES study may have shown levels of lead lower than the EPA standard, no level of lead is acceptable. And there are other concerns beyond lead too.
“Regardless of what these lead results happen to be, there is simply no place for lead in childrens’ products,” she said. “We also all know that lead is not the only toxin on our playgrounds unequivocally.”
A 2015 report by the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science on research conducted on five new samples of crumb rubber tire infill and nine new samples of rubber mulch found that of the 96 chemicals detected, nearly half had no toxicity screenings to determine their health effects. Other chemicals found in the study underwent incomplete toxicity assessments, and of those, 20 percent were considered probable carcinogens, and 40 percent were found to be irritants causing problems for either breathing, the skin, or the eyes.
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