Hartford tech center relocates some programs to allow for PCB remediation

This story by Christina Dolan was first published in the Valley News on August 20.

HARTFORD — Some student programs at the Hartford Area Career and Technical Center will have new locations this fall as efforts to remediate contamination of so-called forever chemicals are expected to continue throughout the school year.

Testing in April found elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, commonly known as PCBs, in some areas of the high school and career and technical center buildings.

PCBs are man-made chemicals found in older building materials such as caulk, paint and lighting fixtures. Their use was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1980. As materials containing PCBs break down, the chemicals are released and can be breathed in as vapor or dust. That exposure can cause cancer and other serious health issues, according to the Vermont Department of Health.

The highest levels of contamination in the Hartford school buildings were found in and around the Getaway restaurant, which is operated by the culinary arts program. Those spaces require immediate action, including air filtration systems. Four learning spaces have been made off-limits entirely and their programs have been relocated.

The contamination locations present a logistical puzzle for Erika Schneider, director of the Hartford Area Career and Technical Center. The center serves roughly 350 students in half-day career preparation programs.

“Relocating specialized classrooms is challenging,” Schneider said Tuesday.

The entire culinary arts program will be temporarily located at the Cornerstone Community Center in Hartford Village, where it will have the use of a full-sized commercial kitchen and a dining area comparable to its regular facilities, Schneider said. The new location may even have some benefits, she added, noting that with the new location, “it may be that more community members come in.”

The health sciences classrooms, designed to replicate work environments, are equipped with medical office equipment, mannequins, and hospital beds for teaching patient care techniques and medical terminology.

The need to relocate those areas “means that we are a little bit more limited on space during the school day,” Schneider said.

Those constraints will push some adult education offerings to after-school hours.

The high school spaces do not require immediate action because the levels of contamination were less significant, but the district will adopt a remediation plan for the contamination as information about its sources becomes available.

“We have a little breathing room and planning time in the high school,” Buildings and Grounds Director Jonathan Garthwaite said by phone on Tuesday.

The state will continue air and bulk materials sampling and then make recommendations to the district, he said.

In 2021, Vermont became the first state to require testing of schools for PCB contamination when the Legislature passed Act 74, mandating testing on buildings constructed before 1980.

Roughly one-third of the more than 300 buildings that fall under the requirement have been tested.

Testing at Burlington High School in 2020 revealed PCB levels so high that the district decided to shutter it completely and build a new school.

The Hartford Memorial Middle School was tested in November 2023 and found to contain no actionable levels of PCB contamination.

The White River School is scheduled for testing in 2025.

No other schools in the district require testing.

“It’s a lot right now,” Garthwaite said of Hartford. “While we’re dealing with these (PCB) issues, we’re still moving forward with the facilities improvements.”

Voters in April approved a $21 million bond for building and grounds work that will upgrade the fire alarm and sprinkler systems and include some major infrastructure projects such as roofing at the career and technical center and high school, and chimney replacement at the middle school.

Those projects will not be impacted by the PCB remediation. In some cases, work may be combined to be “holistic and efficient,” Garthwaite said.

“If we need to do a remediation for PCBs that involves opening a ceiling, then while it’s open, we can put a sprinkler line in,” Garthwaite said.

Garthwaite expects that the PCB-related work will continue into next summer. “Right now, the state is paying for all of the testing, sampling, and interim remediation methods that are in place,” Garthwaite said.

“I really, really hope that continues,” he added.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Hartford tech center relocates some programs to allow for PCB remediation .