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"The Phoenixville Area School District has purchased this land, tested this land and quietly moved the process of building a school there," says Donna Jackson, E. Pikeland Township resident and spokesperson for the Coalition. "We want everyone to know about this; we don't want our children attending a school that sits next to a Superfund site, with its footprint next to the old municipal dump."
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For the past three weeks, Coalition members have been learning about the science, engaging elected School Board members and Township officials and working to inform their neighbors about this project. Petitions have been circulated around the Township.
Says Mike Ellis, a concerned citizen, "Just building on this site will cost the District more than it would if they had purchased a more expensive but 'clean' plot of land. They'll be testing for years to come and paying additional sums for pollution insurance that they wouldn't need if the site were 'clean,' " he says.
While the School District has tested its proposed construction site extensively, the Ciba corporation, original polluters of the land, revealed in a letter to the District that they don't believe a school should be built there. They think there's more than one source of chemical contamination at the site. Ciba dumped TCE and DCE, known carcinogens, into lagoons on the property for years during the 40s and 50s.
"Ciba is warning us," says Celeste McGilvery, another concerned citizen, "so why aren't our elected officials paying attention? We need them to stop this project."
Various documents will be available to the media at the start of the press conference. A question and answer period will follow a brief presentation. And a Phoenixville Area School Board meeting will be held at the High School at 7 p.m. this same date, where approving bids for Kimberton School construction is on the Agenda.
CONTACT: Paul Gottlieb of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, +1-610-513-5395, +1-800-255-7732
/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- June 17/
SOURCE Pennsylvania State Education Association
