Joseph E. Sibilly Elementary School parents are hoping to get answers Friday night at a meeting of the Legislature's Committee on Planning and Environmental Protection.
Committee chairman Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg has requested that officials from the departments of Education, Health and Planning and Natural Resources attend the hearing. They have been asked to provide more information about the water contamination that was uncovered at the school in August just days before school was to start.
Parents are hoping to get some straight answers on how it happened that their children were exposed to volatile organic chemicals in the drinking water at the school.
Ann Arnold, a vocal Sibilly school parent, said she's worried that the other parents are burned out and may not show up for the meeting.
The parents started attending meetings on the issue in August, after the Source published a story about the contamination and the Education Department admitted tests of the water at Sibilly school and its James Monroe annex revealed contaminants in the water supply.
To date neither Education nor DPNR have been able to say how the water became contaminated.
Arnold said she expected records would be subpoenaed that would show where the water came from. One of the ongoing concerns Sibilly parents have had is whether the water could have come from the toxic Tutu wells.
In December officials from the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry met with parents in an effort to allay fears about short- and long-term effects as a result of the children ingesting the volatile chemicals. Though ATSDR officials repeated the message that they had no reason to suspect there would be any effects from the exposure, parents were not reassured.
In light of another meeting being called, it appears they still want answers.
Donastorg said the parents haven't been given enough information.
"I hope that the responsible officials have come to some conclusions about how this water was tainted and how to prevent something like this from ever happening again. The parents will always worry about their children's health but we need to help them reach some degree of closure," Donastorg said.
Both Arnold and Donastorg expressed hope that parents would show up one more time.
"This water ended up in the cisterns of two schools – it had to come from a tainted source – someone knows what happened," Donastorg said. "To allow these children to come into contact with these chemicals is the height of irresponsibility."
After the story of the contaminated water broke in August, it was discovered that tests done in April had revealed the contamination, but the parents and staff at the school were not told about the problem until it was revealed by the media almost four months later.
The meeting is slated to start at 6 p.m. in the Senate chambers.
