Letter to the Editor: Help Ensure Children's Safety During the Proposed Greenacres School Renovation

This letter was sent to Scarsdale10583.com by the Greenacres Elementary School Task Force:

The Greenacres Elementary Task Force is seeking your support in the retention of independent experts on the health, safety, and environmental concerns of the proposed renovation of Greenacres Elementary School.

We are a group of concerned parents whose children will be in the building during the renovation, who recently submitted an independent experts' report to the Scarsdale School Board identifying the potential health, safety and educational risks of the proposed renovation of Greenacres Elementary. Under New York State Law, the District must address the concerns raised in the report and mitigate the risks to ensure the safety of the students during the demolition and construction of the school building.

By submitting the report, with opinions from an environmental health specialist, a noise expert, a traffic consultant, an air quality consulting firm, and a neuropsychologist, the Task Force has offered independent oversight into the District's planning process that emphasizes student health and safety. While the District continues to discuss implementation of the renovation, we believe that the involvement of these experts has already helped to increase dialogue about mitigation strategies and ways to protect the children. These strategies include:

• A commitment by the District to do all interior work during the summer months,

• The use of some temporary/modular classrooms as a contingency if the proposed work cannot be completed in a safe manor,

• A plan to use independent noise, air quality and safety monitors throughout the project, and
• The addition of air filters and some air conditioning to allow windows to be closed during construction to avoid infiltration of dust and noise.

As you can imagine, the experts cost money to hire and we ask that you support the safety of the children by making a donation to support this community effort. Since our mission is for a charitable tax-exempt purpose, all deductions will be fully deductible under the law.

Contributions can be made online at:

http://bit.ly/greenacrestaskforce

Under the SEQRA review process, private citizens have a short window of time to ensure their comments are included in the public record and addressed. On behalf of the entire community, we are advocating for open and thoughtful dialogue, a clear understanding of the scope and parameters of the project, oversight on spending taxpayers' money, and laser focus on the health and safety of the children.

A copy of the report can be found here:If you have any questions, please email us at admin@greenacrestaskforce.org.

We thank you for your support.