School Board Expected To Address Air Quality Issues At Meeting

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education is expected to approve a work plan for a comprehensive vapor intrusion assessment for Hanes and Lowrance middle schools. Tonight's school board meeting comes on the heels of a presentation given to parents and faculty by several air-pollution experts.

Attendees at a special meeting Monday night were told that school officials should consider installing pre-emptive vapor-mitigation systems at the schools.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports the experts did not recommend moving students before the end of the school year because, in their view, the short-term health risks posed by possible contaminants over the next few weeks or months is likely not high enough to justify a disruption to their schedule.

But school officials were told somebody was “asleep at the switch”, and that air-quality sampling should have been done yearly.

It was also recommended that any new facilities should be built on uncontaminated property.

The school board could also make a decision at tonight's meeting on what, if any, action to take for students in the short-term.