Environmental Toxins: McPhail Did Not Test School for PCE

McPhail Associates Inc. had been hired by the city of Somerville, Massachusetts to test soil for contaminants from a former dry cleaner. McPhail, however, did not test Capuano School for contaminants; this is of great concern to parents of students at the school. In a report submitted to the city of Somerville in May 1999, McPhail said that they looked for the presence of "asbestos, total lead and pesticides/PCBs." The study did not offer any documentation on the "presence of lead paint, asbestos, or radon gas within the existing dwellings."

McPhail Did Not Test School Grounds for Neighbor's Contaminant

McPhail's report did note that the site of the former dry cleaner, an area known to be contaminated by dry-cleaning chemicals, is uphill from the school. Tetrachloroethylene has been found is homes around the area and also at the Capuano School. On January 2, 2007, three classes in the school had to be evacuated because air-quality tests found elevated levels of PCE in the air. Irene Gladstone, a licensed site professional with GEI consultants, says that PCE is no longer in the air at the school; GEI has been conducting tests in the area for the last year. PCE still is found in groundwater around the area: "We have not identified the extent of groundwater contamination," said Gladstone.