News Coverage
Board to tackle school playground safety issue
Concerns over arsenic levels prompted closing
Published February 22, 2004
The playground behind the Maquan Elementary School has been off-limits since Jan. 1, when Superintendent John McEwan ordered it blocked off by a chain link fence because of concerns about arsenic levels in the pressure-treated wood.
Some parents, such as Erin Fox, say a fence is not enough. They want the structure torn down. Fox says arsenic, a known carcinogen, is a hazard for her sons, ages 2 and 4.
But others, such as Pamela Garcia, say the 16-year-old playground, which was financed through fund-raisers and built by volunteers, is safe and should be reopened.
Because the playground is owned by the town, not the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, its fate is in the hands of the selectmen. The board is slated to discuss the issue at its meeting on Tuesday.
McEwan said he closed the playground because he believed the state's guidelines for acceptable levels of arsenic were slated to drop in January from 30 to 20 parts per million. Soil tests at the playground last July showed arsenic levels as high as 25 parts per million.
"It was no longer going to be within code," McEwan said. Even though the lower threshold did not go into effect as expected, McEwan still went ahead with the closure. "The playground is the full responsibility of the town, not the school district," he said. "My recommendation is to make sure it's healthy."
Paul Locke, of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Waste Site Clean-Up, said the arsenic standard cited by McEwan is set for waste sites such as old tanneries. While the decrease from 30 to 20 parts per million could be adopted by this summer, the change would not affect the playground, he said.
"Legally the standard doesn't apply to arsenic coming from a pesticide, such as in pressure-treated lumber, since it's an approved use," Locke said. "But if they want to use those levels as benchmarks, they are free to do that."
Selectmen chairman Peter Jones said more testing should be done before the board decides what to do. He said it could cost $20,000 to dismantle the playground and dispose of the wood, because of its toxic contents. "There's no reason at this point for it to be seen as a threat to the children," Jones said. "The level of arsenic is still within the limit, so it's not unsafe technically, according to state standards."
Selectmen want the school department to pay for the testing, which will cost about $800.
"This is an emotional issue," Jones said. "It's a community playground, and a lot of people spent a lot of time putting it up. If it's a safe playground and can be kept in a safe condition by applying a sealant, we won't take it down."
Fox said she believes too much emphasis is being placed on protecting the feelings of volunteers who built the playground in 1988. "It's not that I don't sympathize, but this is about our children's safety, not hurt feelings," she said. Fox, whose 4-year-old son attends preschool at Maquan, said she learned of the arsenic issue through a letter McEwan sent to parents in December.
"Once I found out, I did a little research, and the more I found out, the more strongly I felt that the playground needed to come down," she said. Fox said arsenic can leach from the wood into the soil and get on children's hands, increasing the risk they could ingest the poison.
She said the Environmental Protection Agency "recommends every time children use that kind of playground they wash their hands with soap and water. Are the teachers going to have to make sure all the children wash their hands?"
The town's engineer, Alan Hanscom, of Beta Engineers in Norwood, said arsenic, chromium and copper can bleed to the surface of pressure-treated wood in warm weather if the wood is not sealed. "I think for most of the time since 1988 that playground has been routinely sealed," Hanscom said. "I would say there hasn't been very much risk for children who used it, and there is currently not much risk."
Garcia and a host of volunteers in 1999 worked to bring the playground up to current building code by removing metal fire poles, painting head rails with safety paint, capping handrails with plastic and adding six inches of pea stone on the ground, as well as treating the wood.
"We hand-sanded and sealed the entire playground," she said.
While her three children are now in their teens, Garcia said, she would have no qualms about them using the playground.
"They played there all their lives, and we still go there for picnics," she said.
"I personally think they're making a mountain out of a molehill. I think it's because the school district just doesn't want the responsibility of maintaining the playground."