EPA investigates
toxins at
Granite Hills High School
By Grant Madden
Original Investigation
EL CAJON — Parents of students at Granite Hills High School
located in El Cajon, have been stunned to learn that the school
is the subject of an Environmental Protection Agency toxicology
investigation. Granite Hills is one of the major high schools
that Alpine regional students attend.
On Monday, March 30, parents of students received a
plain unmarked business envelope, with no return address or
identifying particulars, advising them of an information evening
on Wednesday, April 1, at the high school. Enclosed in the
envelope was a fact sheet and brief synopsis from the California
Department of Toxic Substances (DTSC) advising that during
preparations for classroom extensions at the school, a number of
soil samples were taken. The soil samples were reported to
contain high levels of arsenic, and a volatile organic compound,
Butadiene.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring mineral that is used
in the mining process for gold. It is responsible for the
epidemic water poisoning in a number of South East Asian
countries. In the United States there is a correlation between
arsenic to skin and bladder cancer. Epidemiological studies have
suggested that consumption of tap water with arsenic poisoning
may also be linked to type 2 diabetes.
Butadiene is a petroleum based product predominately
used to make synthetic compounds and rubber tires. Exposure to
the gas will lead to the onset of blurred vision, vertigo and
tiredness, before eventually damaging the central nervous
system. Butadiene is a known carcinogen, directly involved in
the promotion of cancer and the increase of its propagation.
The Department of Toxic Substances reports they were
first notified of the toxins in March 2008. An area of about 1.3
acres at the high school was cordoned off using a chain link
fence to prevent intrusions by students and the District engaged
the DTSC to conduct a preliminary environmental assessment of
the contamination, at an estimated cost of $17,884.
The School District was subsequently informed by the
DTSC, in a letter dated June 26, 2008, that in accordance with
the State Education Code, the District is mandated to inform
residents of the toxic contamination.
In July 2008, the preliminary assessment was received
by the DTSC and on Aug. 19, the DTSC issued their comments. The
preliminary assessment established the strongest source of the
contamination adjacent to the chain link fence, less then eight
feet from a classroom building and parallel to a common walkway
still in use by students.
No further attempt was made by the School District or
the High School to cordon off the classrooms, or to temporarily
relocate portable classrooms to vacant land owned by the school,
away from the contamination source.
Included in the preliminary assessment was an abridged
history of the contaminant site. From 1928 until approximately
1958, the high school was originally farmland where pesticides
and fertilizers were used. Sometime between 1967 and 1970, the
area of contamination was partially developed as Granite Hills
High School. The Preliminary Assessment also made reference to
previously existing structures erected on the site, some of
which contained lead based paint.
The DTSC reported that during their geotechnical
investigation, undocumented fill was located 3.5 to 8 feet below
the surface, and that arsenic was detected in surface soil at a
level that required mitigation. The report was forwarded to the
school district in August 2008 for their comment.
The Grossmont Union High School District Board failed
to respond the DTSC, and in November 2008, the DTSC instructed
the District that the hazardous material would pose a threat to
public health, and it required further investigation and the
removal of the hazardous material.
In January 2009, the School District finally entered
into a cleanup agreement with the DTSC regarding the hazardous
materials, at a cost of almost $40,000. District School
Superintendent Robert Collins eventually informed some parents
of the hazardous material in a letter dated Jan. 16, 2009, 10
months after the initial findings and seven months after being
instructed by the DTSC to advise residents.
In that letter, Collins asserts that, “preliminary
tests indicate that the chemical was not detected inside or
outside of the classrooms.” His statement contravenes the actual
results of the DTSC, which in November 2008 had pinpointed the
strongest concentration mere feet away from existing classrooms.
Despite the fact that in June 2008 the DTSC had advised
the school district of mandatory disclosure of the hazards, many
parents report that they had no knowledge of the toxins prior to
the letter of March 30, 2009, and that they had not received the
District’s letter dated Jan. 16. In addition, the secretary to
Principal Kelly Madden of Montgomery Middle School, located
diagonally across the road from Granite Hills High School,
reports that they had no knowledge of the toxins at all.
On Tuesday, March 31, telephone and e-mail inquiries to
both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of
Toxic Substances were not returned, both Departments closed in
observances of Caesar Chavez Day. Both agencies had still not
responded to inquiries by the close of business at the end of
the week.
On Wednesday, April 1, a small group of about 60 people
turned out to the public meeting chaired by Shahir Hadded of the
DTSC. He stated that the DTSC was responsible for overseeing the
investigation and clean up of school sites where toxic
substances are identified.
DTSC Project Manager, Angela Ortega outlined the
results found to date, and confirmed that the contamination is
restricted to the proposed science building site. She stated
that there is currently no threat to human health from the
hazardous substances, but that a response action and additional
monitoring is required to prevent future threats.
Doctor Bill Bosan, a toxicologist at the DTSC addressed
the audience outlining which chemicals were detected and the
dates of detection. He presented a risk assessment on the
potential exposure to the toxins. Using the concentrations
recorded at the site, he estimated that a four-year student at
the school had a cancer risk of approximately one in 1 million.
The number is more significant for faculty, nominating their
cancer risk as one in 100,000.
Doctor Bosan stated that there were a number of
uncertainties with the butadiene detected at the school,
including an unknown source, the sporadic levels in monitoring,
and the effect of shallow groundwater. He recommended the
incorporation of vapor barriers as part of the new building
construction, and the continued investigation of the toxins.
The meeting was then opened to a question and answer
style format, where a number of proponents emerged. The first
was the faculty of the high school, chiefly concerned with the
delay to have their long awaited science building erected during
the forthcoming 2009 summer break.
Representatives of the Grossmont School District were
also present, as they clarified procedures for the
administration of the toxin removal. Subject to a formal review
of public comments in relation to the cleanup, administrators
calculated that construction of the new science building might
begin as early as July 4, 2009.
Very few parents of students were present; the greater
representation coming from parents whose children will be
freshmen students attending Granite Hills High School later in
the year.
“I just want to know if it’s safe for my children to
attend,” one unidentified parent cried in aguish.
During open discussions, Granite Hills Principal Georgette
Torres mentioned that a student had recently been taken to
hospital with reported butadiene poisoning. In addition, she
stated that faculty at the high school have reported a higher
then normal level of cancer over the past decade.
Doctor Bosan was specifically asked what measures were
being taken to track the health of those persons who may have
been exposed to the toxins. He stated that the tracking of
medical ailments was not the role of the DTSC, and suggested
that responsibility lie with the Public Health system. He
indicated that the DTSC had no intention to “look back” and
examine those who may have been previously exposed.
In addition to Principal’s Torres one unconfirmed
incident of butadiene poisoning and the elevated levels of
cancer among staff, there is a history of unaccounted illness in
former students of the school.
In the Granite Hills graduating class of 2008, a number
of senior students reported suffering long-term symptoms
throughout their final year, similar to those experienced by
exposure to butadiene. One student was subsequently referred to
the California Infectious Disease Unit when their ailment was
unable to be diagnosed.
On Thursday, April 2, inquiries were made with the
office of Dianna Jacob, Supervisor of the Second District for
the County of San Diego. A representative of that office
reported that that the Second District was unaware of the public
meeting.
The San Diego County Department of Environmental
Health, the local board that oversees environmental quality and
hazardous materials, was also not represented at the meeting.
While GUHSD representatives demonstrated that their
primary concern was to hasten construction of the new building,
and the DTSC is focused on the current hazard and mitigating
exposure in the future, the ignorance of exposure to the
chemical toxins prior to the March 2008 detections may still
become a liability issue. If the undocumented fill is determined
to be the source of the contamination, the implication is that
every faculty and student, past and present, of Granite Hills
High School, may have been poisoned with a cancer-causing
chemical. Inquiries are continuing to ascertain how many
unaccounted illness may be attributable to exposure from the
toxins.
The Grossmont Union High School District will
eventually submit a Removal Action Workplan (RAW) to the DTSC,
which will be subject to a 30-day public comment period.
Despite the assurance given by the DTSC toxicologist
Doctor Bosan that the contaminated site was now “safe”, he
stated that the actual source of the toxins had not yet been
identified. In addition, he also recommended future monitoring
for butadiene.
Even with the DTSC identifying the highest source
concentrations, the school district has made no effort to extend
the exclusion zone. The chain link barrier fence still exists
around the original open area of level ground, and students are
still walking between classes in close proximity to the
poisonous gas source.
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