Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Parents of Buffalo School students, Interm School Superintendent Dr. Tonja M. Williams, school staff and board members were in attendance for a session Tuesday to address the concerns filed by former Chief Engineer James Reed in regards to an illegal malfeasance which corrupted the testing results of water in school buildings testing for lead.
James Reed filed a complaint sometime between October and November of last year to the Public Integrity Bureau. The complaint states: "The Director of Plant Services ordered all Chief Engineers to use Pre-Stagnation Flushing prior to collecting water samples in their buildings for Lead Testing the District's Drinking Water. Pre-Stagnation Flushing is in Violation NYS. STATE LAW when collecting water samples for Testing Lead Levels in Public Schools Drinking Water; I was one of those Engineers. I have enclosed all related Documents."
"We are not going in and doing that kind of flushing before the sample is taken," said Yvette Gordon, Director of Safety and Health at Buffalo Public Schools. "The law says we are not allowed to do that before testing. The guidelines are very clear about how long we are supposed to wait before we do a sample, 8 to 18 hours."
"Any harm coming to our children will be taken seriously," said Superintendent Williams. "When we heard concern about possible lead that is in our school... I wanted to bring staff so they can share the steps we have taken so far the concerns that were brought forward. These concerns started prior to COVID and we are addressing them."
"We are committed to following those rules and regulations and we are doing everything we are supposed to do," Gordon said.
Reed and any of the other engineers were in attendance at the event and when asked if there were any engineers available to confirm or deny the allegations brought forth by Mr. Reed, Superintendent Williams responded, "We will find out, but to date we have not heard any."
"Our primary concern is the safety to children because as we said lead cannot be undone," said Samuel Radford, co-chair of Buffalo's We The Parents. "No amount of lead exposure is safe. We've heard that our children have been exposed to lead in the school possibly and so we want to make sure that the children are tested."
Free testing is on the way. Francesca Gidney and Makeda Tiffany Devonshire, Directors of Buffalo Clinical Testing Lab Corp. announced Tuesday the BUFFALO-LEAD-FREE-INTIATIVE, which will provide lead testing access to every child in Buffalo.
"We can provide direct patient care we are a mobile lab we can bring testing so that a high value of anyone that was exposed can be tested efficiently confidential and safe," said Gidney. "We are offering our services free of cost. Also, if anyone is not insured, we are partnered with facilitators that can provide insurance because every child, even if undocumented children under the New York State Plan, has the right to insurance so there's no way that we're going to leave anyone behind."
