Fury and Worry Fuel Malibu Parents, District In the Hot Seat

[proverbialwisdom]

13. UPDATE: Council Pressures School Board on PCB Testing

http://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_955ec38a-384f-11e4-9254-001a4bcf887a.html

Council Pressures School Board on PCB Testing

Posted: Tuesday, September 9, 2014 12:00 pm
By Emily Sawicki

The Malibu City Council voted 5-0 on Monday to join the fight for further PCB testing in Malibu schools, after weeks of passionate testimony by Malibu students and parents.

As the one-year anniversary of the discovery of PCBs in Malibu High School and Middle School approaches, City Council unanimously agreed to exercise the bully pulpit, passing a resolution to pressure the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District Board of Education for action in further testing the schools for toxic contaminants.

“Part of the recital should be: here we are, September 2014 and we’re here, I mean it’s crazy, it’s nuts,” Councilwoman Joan House said.

The discovery of PCBs in Malibu Schools occurred in October 2013, after several teachers expressed concern that cases of thyroid cancer among staff could have a causal link. PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyl, were a common building material in the mid-20th century, but are is now considered hazardous substances.

Since then, many residents have complained that the school board’s handling of the situation has been inadequate.

The council agreed that in addition to requesting further action from the school board, written requests for support in PCB testing should be sent out all the way up the line, to county, state, and even federal education officials.

“I don’t have a problem, at the end of this, that we should also be sending copies to the state and the LA County representatives, and even federal, on that level, maybe if there’s an Obama person,” Mayor Skylar Peak said.

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