By Elizabeth Sagarin
Parents attending the Feb. 5 Board of Education meeting left with no answer to the question, Is my child in danger?
A summary issued by the Buildings and Grounds Committee raised hackles on the necks of parents whose children attend Oceanside schools.
The 25-member volunteer committee prepared a laundry list of items that warranted attention from maintenance crews and other qualified persons. Averaging 17 items per school, the summary included tripping hazards, overgrown poison ivy, escape route blockage, structural damage, and laceration, fire and electrocution hazards. School 9 had the highest amount of entries, at 28, and School 5 had the least with five.
Without a follow-up checklist of completed items, neither committee co-chair Keith Pearsall or Board President Phil Steinberg were unable to reassure the parents.
One parent reacted emotionally to an item mentioning an outlet in the nurse's office at School 8 that, needs a proper cover to be added to keep the children lying on the couch from being shocked.
Pearsall, who put the final report together and presented it to the board, said the summary was, not for community information but a budgetary tool for the board.
According to Pearsall, Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown and Director of Facilities Richard Brunie, most of the items on the summary had been taken care of soon after they were observed.
Less serious items, such as the padding at School 4's playground, which according to the summary is separating, will probably be addressed in the 2001-2002 budget, Brown said.
Brown acknowledged the hysteria the summary could incite as a stand-alone document. We didn't have a record of what was done in time for the meeting, but I can tell you there will be one for next year's meeting, he said. This was a learning experience.
Two days after the meeting, Brunie prepared a checklist of items corrected since the Committee's visits. Brown declined to issue The Herald a copy prior to press time.
