2011-12 School year in the Greater Fall River area brings PCB’s and MCAS

2011-12 School year in the Greater Fall River area brings PCB’s and MCAS.

The 2011-12 school year has been back in session for a few weeks now and two local communities are witnessing a similar problem. The Westport school district is dealing with the clean up of PCB’s found in the Middle School during the summer. Testing and subsequent clean up of the potentially harmful materials caused a 2 day delay in the opening of the school. Ceiling tiles and calking around windows have been removed and most of the building is now open. The multimillion dollar clean up was an unexpected expense for the school district and will be dealt with at a future town meeting. Superintendent Colley message to parents and guardians explains more.

As a result of the Westport situation Fall River officials decided to test two school building built during the period when PCB’s were used in construction. Tests at Durfee High School show no PCB’s present , however tests at the Talbot Middle School indicated PCB’s may be present in some of the calking around some of the windows. The middle school has been closed since September 19^th. The School department is providing updates for the public at www.fallriverschools.org/talbot.cfm .

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MCAS scores from the spring 2011 testing period have been released by the state Department of Education. All regions of the state are reported and you can compare your districts results with the state averages for each class, and see the actual results by individual school.  The Fall River School Department  has a District summary and press release on the School department website.

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For more about the Greater Fall River area, visit my website at www.stevew-homes.com or contact me directly at 508-558-8035.