Winston-Salem Journal –which broke the story of groundwater contamination beneath Hanes and Lowrance middle schools —- reports test results by a Raleigh-based environmental consulting firm show toxic vapors are not present in significant levels:
Superintendent Beverly Emory said she hopes the report will be the starting point for deciding the property’s future.
“I’m hopeful the data gives us the power to discuss future possibilities” Emory said. “That’s a valuable piece of property.”
Board members who voted to move students mid-year said they did so out of an abundance of caution. It was a controversial decision, causing elation among some parents who aggressively advocated for closing the schools and angst among some in the community who thought it unnecessary.
“Some people are going to point to these tests and say you made the wrong decision,” said Carol Templeton, parent of an eighth-grader at Hanes. “You made the right decision.”
Board member Elisabeth Motsinger has been vocally opposed to moving the students and maintained the safety of the schools since the Winston-Salem Journal first reported on the groundwater contamination in January. The results supported that position, she said.
“It’s really important to me that children not spend the next decade of their life feeling like they were put at undue risk, because they were not,” Motsinger said.
Now WSFCS and its board have some tough decisions ahead. I can perfectly understand the sentiments of the parent quoted above, but should the decision to keep the students off the campus for the ’15-’16 school year not be revisited? And what about plans to build a new school on the site, for which Emory withdrew her support in light of the Journal’s reporting? Appears to me she’s already revisiting that decision.
