VOORHEESVILLE CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

VOORHEESVILLE, NEW YORK 12186

September 12, 2016

Board
Board of
of
Education
Education
Cheryl L. Dozier
Cheryl L. Dozier
President
President
Doreen Saia
Doreen Saia
Vice President
Vice President
Michael J. Canfora
Michael J. Canfora
C. James Coffin
C. James Coffin
Jeannie McDonnell
Jeannie McDonnell
Cynthia M. Monaghan
Cynthia M. Monaghan
Diana M. Straut
Diana M. Straut

District Staff
District
Staff
Brian Hunt
Superintendent
Brian Hunt
Superintendent
James Franchini
Assistant Superintendent
James Franchini
For Finance &
Assistant Superintendent
Operations
For Finance & Operations
Robert Carte
Robert Carte
Director of Technology
Director of Technology
Karen Conroy
Karen Conroy
Director of Curriculum
Director of Curriculum
Michael Goyer
Michael Goyer
Director of Facilities &
Director of Facilities &
Transportation
Transportation
Karen Jones
Karen Jones
Director of Pupil
Director of Pupil
Personnel Services
Personnel Services
Joseph Sapienza
Joseph Sapienza
Director of Athletics
Director of Athletics

Robin Burch
Robin Burch
Treasurer
Treasurer
Jessica Tabakian
Jessica Tabakian
District Clerk
District Clerk

Dear Voorheesville Community,

As you may be aware, the Voorheesville School District hired a contractor,
Pace Analytical, in July to conduct lead testing at various locations at all of our school
buildings in order to protect the safety of our students and staff who use water in the
buildings every day. The governor signed a new state law on water testing for lead in
schools on Tuesday September 6, and regulations on water testing were issued last
week. Our testing was initiated prior to this law taking effect.
The results of the tests, performed in August, came back on last week, and showed
that three water sources a classroom sink in room 114 at the elementary school, a
sink in the transportation office, and the large sink in the elementary school kitchen
tested higher than the 15 parts per billion specified in the new state law. The results
were reported to the Albany County Health Department as required by law. The test
results for the 3 locations at the Elementary School were as follows:

Transportation office sink = 15 parts per billion

Classroom sink in room 114 = 18 parts per billion
Kitchen sink initial test = 1800 parts per billion

The health department advised us to retest the kitchen sink because the initial test result
was so high that it might be an error. The district arranged for CT Male to retest the kitchen
sink. The retest results are as follows:

Kitchen sink retest (first draw) = 822 parts per billion

Kitchen sink retest (second draw) 10 parts per billion

All of the initial tests by Pace were first draw tests, which means that the water was
sampled immediately after opening the valve. The second draw test is done after the
water is allowed to flow through the valve for 30 seconds. For the kitchen sink, this
shows that the water sitting in the line is accumulating a high level of lead, but when
the water flows through the lead level drops below the state specified maximum level.
Both the health department and the CT Male advised that this indicates that it is likely
that kitchen sink faucet is responsible for the high lead level, and that the district
should replace the faucet and retest. We are replacing and retesting the faucet this
week.
The faucet in the kitchen sink was replaced in May 2016 with a new fixture. This
sink has been used to wash kitchen pots, and it has also been used to fill water jugs for
students to drink from in the Kids Club and in our lunch program. This is a very
serious concern. The health department has advised us that drinking of water with
high lead levels is the primary risk. Exposure from water used in cooking is considered
432 New Salem Road P.O. Box 498 Voorheesville, NY 12186-0498 518-765-3313