Greenpoint and Williamsburg Schools Tainted With Lead Paint

The NYC Dept. of Education released data on Wednesday on deteriorating lead-based paint in public schools and the results are not great for North Brooklyn. Over 900 NYC elementary classrooms, including 114 Brooklyn schools, tested positive for lead paint, with many tainted classrooms in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Bushwick, Chalkbeat first reported. 5,408 classrooms were tested as part of the inspection and it’s the first time DOE has released lead paint statistics.

The city’s classroom data (.XLS) release follows a June WNYC/Gothamist investigation of four schools that revealed “substantial levels of lead contamination from deteriorating paint inside four public elementary schools operated by the New York City Department of Education.”

A new online tool to report deteriorating paint in NYC schools was launched and on Friday, Mayor de Blasio vowed to have all lead-tainted classrooms remediated in time for the upcoming school year during his call-in on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show.

Two local schools, P.S. 17 (208 N. 5th St.) and P.S. 31 (75 Meserole Ave.) did not have deteriorating lead-based paint in the tested classrooms according to the city’s data.

A significant number of North Brooklyn schools have at least one classroom with deteriorating lead-based paint present, and most of the following schools have multiple lead paint tainted classrooms:

P.S. 18- Brooklyn (101 Maujer St.)

P.S. 19 – Brooklyn (325 S. 3rd St.)

P.S. 34 – Brooklyn (131 Norman Ave.)

P.S. 84 – Brooklyn (250 Berry St.)

P.S. 110 – Brooklyn (124 Monitor St.)

P.S. 120 – Brooklyn (18 Beaver St.)

P.S. 132 – Brooklyn (320 Manhattan Ave.)

P.S. 136 – Brooklyn (207 Bushwick Ave.)

P.S. 147 – Brooklyn (325 Bushwick Ave.)

P.S. 157 – Brooklyn (850 Kent Ave.)

P.S. 250 – Brooklyn (108 Montrose Ave.)

P.S. 257 – Brooklyn (60 Cook St.)

P.S. 319 – Brooklyn (360 Keap St.)

 

What the hell, @NYCSchools? Lead was banned in NYC almost 60 years ago. How’s it possible that w all we know about lead poisoning, everything we’ve seen w @NYCHA, it took a report by @WNYC in 2019 for you to discover this? Beyond outrageous! https://t.co/pumQ2hc1cI

— (((Stephen Levin))) (@StephenLevin33) August 2, 2019

 NYC Councilmember Stephen Levin responded calling the situation “beyond outrageous.”

Brooklyn leads the NYC pack with 360 lead-tainted classrooms, followed by the Bronx (327 classrooms), Queens (139 classrooms), Staten Island (59 classrooms) and Manhattan (52 classrooms).

The dangers of a child having elevated lead levels in their blood can result in lasting developmental problems, and the city has committed to “repair or paint over” the identified classrooms for children to return safely for the ensuing school year.