Rochester Prep High School students protest toxics and rusty water in their school outside the Rochester City School District office on Broad Street.
(Dec. 5, 2017) Tina MacIntyre-Yee/@tyee23/staff photographer Scores of students from Rochester Prep High School left class Tuesday morning and marched in the rain to Rochester City School District headquarters in response to longstanding environmental concerns regarding their subleased building at 690 St. Paul Street.
Separately, Monroe County employees who work in the building across St. Paul from the structure that houses the school were informed in recent weeks that the TCE spill has migrated under the street and is impacting their work space as well.
The school district held a meeting with an array of stakeholders in November at which the state departments of Environmental and of Health both said the air and water are safe.
The students marching in the rain Tuesday were far from reassured.
Subsequent tests showed it was the result of misguided off-gassing into a treatment system room on site.
Information on the DEC’s website indicates that two separate plumes of TCE are moving through groundwater from east to west, with at least one of them impacting the building leased by the county.
County employees were told at a series of meetings last week that trace amounts of TCE have been found in 691 St. Paul’s indoor air, though the levels are below applicable guidelines, Sleezer said.
“The county’s only priority was to make sure their health and safety was being protected.” Sleezer said the county also had indoor air testing done at 691 St. Paul.
More: Charter schools draw thousands, with Rochester Prep leading the way Shirley Richardson has a granddaughter at Rochester Prep and said she wants the students taken out of the building immediately.