The Burlington School Board is assessing three options that could get Burlington High School students back to school.
The building was shut down in September when dangerously high levels of PCB carcinogenic chemicals were found in old construction materials, and they were also found in the soil at the school.
School Superintendent Tom Flanagan presented three scenarios to the school board last month. Two involve moving to a new building at a cost of $3 million.
Here are the options:
1. Move back into less contaminated parts of the building while the PCB remediation occurs.
2. Find a new space to lease for two to three years while PCB remediation occurs.
3. Move to a new space for a potentially longer period of time and build a new high school.
The district is beginning negotiations for a space it could lease. Flanagan did not give an estimate of the rental costs.
In 2018, voters approved a $70 million bond to renovate the high school. To build a new high school, the memo sent to board members states, it’s likely that voters would have to be asked for an additional bond.
And, of course, there’s no end in sight to the pandemic.
Where’s the help from the state and UVM?
Burlington School Board Chair Clare Wool says the severity of the problem faced by the high school isn’t getting enough attention from the state.
“I do not sleep at night. I am stressed about the welfare of our community,” Wool said. “And I’m concerned that it hasn’t risen to the level of the attention of our state leaders that Burlington is in need of help.
“I think it becomes acceptable because we’re in a pandemic,” Wool said. “And remote learning is the norm. But if there wasn’t a pandemic, how would we be moving forward?”
The state declared a moratorium on school construction aid in 2007, and Wool is worried about how Burlington will be able to pay for PCB remediation, and how other school districts will handle the PCB testing and remediation that will likely be needed across the state in Vermont’s aging schools.
She’s also frustrated by the lack of a helping hand from the University of Vermont. She’s surprised UVM hasn’t offered any buildings to allow some in-person instruction for Burlington high school students, which Wool says they desperately need for socialization and access to an equitable educational experience.
Enrique Corredera, a UVM spokesperson, said a meeting with Wool has been scheduled for Nov. 4 “to learn more about BHS needs.”
Survey results discussed Nov. 5
The district sought input on the three options from parents, students, staff and community members. The board will discuss the survey results Nov. 5.
The survey results will indicate whether there is significant buy-in to build a new high school, Wool said. The district isn’t pursuing any cost estimates for a new high school until it’s clear whether the community supports the idea.
Many of the Burlington School Board members declined to comment on the options until they hear the survey results.
The district is working on cost estimates for the PCB remediation and leasing a new building.
In Wool’s opinion, the first option — returning to parts of the school with less PCB contamination — is “not feasible” because the Burlington Educators Association and AFSCME don’t support it. Pursuing that plan may cause “significant staffing issues,” according to Flanagan’s memo.
Board member Mike Fisher agrees with Wool that staff and students shouldn’t return to parts of the school with lower PCB levels, despite pressures from some families to do so.
Families who oppose the school building closure have argued that the Vermont Department of Health threshold of 15 nanograms per cubic meter for PCB contamination is too low. The Environmental Protection Agency limit is 500 nanograms per cubic meter. The high school’s tech center wing reached concentrations as high as 6,300 nanograms per cubic meter. Other wings had levels between 1.1 and 300 nanograms per cubic meter. Experts have told VTDigger that these levels could pose serious health risks.
“As an elected government official, I don’t think that we should be able to override the guidance from the Department of Health,” Fisher said. “I don’t think it’s on us to say, ‘Yes, we think we know better.’”
Fisher has two daughters at the high school, and said he knows how essential it is for high schoolers to get back to in-person learning. Still, he’s “absolutely concerned” about the costs of moving to a new building or building a new high school.
“We’re trying to avoid putting a financial burden on taxpayers at a time when a lot of us are really feeling the hurt from the economic situation in the country,” Fisher said. “The idea of building a brand-new building … we’d have to go back to the voters and ask for another bond. I am doubtful that the community would support that kind of spending.”
‘The whole learning environment’
Rebecca Cunningham, a junior at Burlington High and a student member of the school board, said she would prefer whichever option gets students back to in-person learning the fastest. She said she feels safe returning to the high school building, but understands that other staff and students may not.
Cunningham said she would need more information before choosing one of the options definitively. But the idea of a brand-new high school is alluring to her and, she speculated it would be to other students, too.
“From what I know, students are not attached to the old building. I mean, you walk through the hallways and it literally snows. It’ll be raining outside and it’ll be raining inside, too,” Cunningham said, referring to the high school’s leaky roof system.
“I think what students are more attached to is the people and being in an environment with people their age and friends and teachers,” Cunningham said. “The whole learning environment is what students are attached to and want to get back to.”
