Color Guard students of Holly Shelter Middle School fold the American flag as school ends for the day on Jan. 2, 2013. StarNews photo by Jeff Janowski.
Q. I would like to find out if a follow up has been done on the soil and water levels recently at Holly Shelter Middle School? If not when is the expected date for reevaluating?
A. When Holly Shelter Middle School first opened in 2010, New Hanover County Schools worked with the Environmental Protection Agency to test the soil and water on the school site, said Bill Hance, assistant superintendent for operations in the district.
“They assured us there were no hazards to students,” Hance said. The school also uses county water.
The district tests soil and water in school sites whenever a new school opens, Hance said. But they don’t do follow-up tests unless there’s a reason to do so. Right now, there aren’t any further tests planned at Holly Shelter, Hance said.
The New Hanover County Board of Education requested tests of soil and groundwater around Castle Hayne Elementary and Holly Shelter Middle schools after parents questioned the schools’ placement next to the former site of Reasor Chemical Co., a site flagged by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund site. It was cleaned up in 2007.
According to a report by ECS Carolinas, the school property did not contain any contaminants associated with the Superfund site.
RELATED LINKS:
StarNews: Levels of arsenic, iron exceed state standards at schools site
Why did New Hanover County Schools buy land next to a Superfund site?
Date posted: July 3, 2013
User-contributed question by:
Anonymous
Talk to us!
Have a comment about this post or know more about the answer? Use this form to let us know. Note that all comments are moderated and must be approved before they are posted, although you may see your own comments the first time you post them.