The following was sent as a letter to City Council.
I would like to add my voice to what I know is a growing chorus of concerned parents exhorting you to take action on behalf of our kids. My wife Melissa and I have a son going into seventh grade at MHS. Due to concerns about the safety of his sixth-grade classrooms, he spent most of last year being taught at Juan Cabrillo. Can you imagine how sickened we were to learn that he was moved into a room whose caulk toxicity is among the worst in the nation? Worse than the class from which he was removed. And this fact had to be uncovered by Malibu Unites because the SMMUSD wouldn’t pay to test the caulk. Outrageous.
To add insult to injury, Sandra Lyon has the gall to respond to this revelation with a complaint that the Juan Cabrillo samples were taken “surreptitiously.” Who cares? Our classrooms are toxic. A year has been lost. It’s time for you all to do the right thing and help us realize these four goals, as enumerated by Malibu Unites:
1. Provide a PCB-free alternative for students and teachers, effective August 19, while:
2. testing caulk in all pre-1979 classrooms (test sources). (This was the EPA’s request in its Jan. 27 letter to Lyon.)
3. Remove all PCBs that violate TSCA (50 ppm). (In Jan. 27 EPA letter.)
4. Re-allocate Bond BB and ES to remediate or build classrooms free of toxic chemicals like PCB, lead and asbestos.
Thanking you in advance for your efforts to keep our students and educators safe.
Joshua Malina