Art teacher Lisa Ostellino has taught at Pittsfield High School for over 20 years, and has worked in the district for even longer. When she heard that the gym floors would be redone while school was in session, she flashed back to the last time PHS attempted a similar project about six years ago.
“The same thing happened," Ostellino told WAMC. "It was a terrible odor. I asked for some material data sheet. I knew it was probably oil-based, but I wasn't sure. No one would provide it at the time. It permeated through the school and I said, made a formal complaint, and the same thing happened. They said this will not happen again, it will be a summer job.”
By Thursday of last week, Ostellino says fumes from the gym had become an obvious issue, and she says she struggled to get the attention of Superintendent Joe Curtis and other administrators as the fumes intensified.
“In the hallways, it was becoming increasingly overwhelming as the minutes ticked by," she said. "I asked one administration for materials data sheet. I said this is not safe, OSHA rules dictate that if it smells bad, it is bad for you. I just knew right away we should not be in that building at that time. At the time, the administration that I spoke to said that Mr. Curtis was in the office having a meeting, and I said please, tell him that I would like a data sheet, that this is not safe for us to be breathing in and inhaling. I then went back to my classroom, where again, I closed my door and put something underneath the door and opened my windows. As the students came in, they were increasingly getting nauseous, headaches, and sick throughout the afternoon.”
By 1 p.m. Thursday, Ostellino said she hadn’t heard from anyone about her concerns, prompting her to send off another round of emails off to administrators.
“I respectfully asked to see the material data sheet to see if it was oil-based or what was in it so that I could see how bad it was," she said. "I also cited that the Toxic Substance Control Act states that everything should be marked with symbol CP or AP to be used while humans are in the building. I also offered up some books that I have complete health and safety, OSHA rules, because as you know, I'm the art teacher, I have to be very careful for the supplies that I put in front of my students on a daily basis. I did not hear back from anyone even though everything was marked 'urgent matter.' I left school and I was immediately hit with that fume. My eyes were burning and my heart was racing at this point. I became physically ill and threw up twice on the way home.”
Friday morning, the situation was no better.
“I called two of my early riser colleagues to see how the smell was," Ostellino continued. "Now, we have already gotten a few emails from our principal apologizing and Mr. Curtis apologizing and saying that the building would be aired out and we would be in there the next day. I knew that this was not going to be the case, because if it's oil, it takes two to two weeks to cure up and then not be emanating the fumes. You can read this on the internet, anybody can see that. But in good faith, I came to school. And the smell hit me right away. So this, again, started a chain of command of me trying to educate my staff on the effects of these fumes. All the while, Mr. Curtis and the principal and everybody was still in the building with our students in the building. Finally, finally, they put it out that we were going to be emergency evacuated.”
After again stating her concerns to her superiors, Ostellino emailed the faculty and staff around 10 a.m. Friday about the fumes and her inability to get either a materials data sheet or a response from Curtis.
All of this precipitated the emergency dismissal just an hour later. At 11, the Pittsfield Public Schools issued a statement saying that PHS and Taconic’s floors were meant to be finished while school was not in session, but that contractors chose to start during the school year. No further explanation was offered in the statement. Around 1 p.m., Curtis issued a second statement apologizing for the situation and pledging to investigate why the work had been undertaken during the school year. He went on to say that “evidently doing this has been past practice, which in my opinion is not acceptable. I assure each one of you that this will not happen again in one of the Pittsfield Public Schools.”
Around 700 students attend PHS and over 800 attend Taconic.
Ostellino finally received a materials data sheet from the Pittsfield schools on Monday. The most recent revision to the document is from December 2015 and Ostellino said it was missing pages. Of the hazards it identifies, at least three rise to the highest tier of danger in the Globally Harmonized System of hazard classification: category 1.
In the sheet provided to Ostellino, the hazards mentioned in the schools included cancer-causing risks, acute toxicity, damage to organs, the possibility of genetic defects, and more.
According to federal OSHA guidelines, “Employers must ensure that the Safety Data Sheets are readily accessible to employees for all hazardous chemicals in their workplace.”
After multiple attempts to contact Curtis beginning Friday afternoon, the superintendent responded to WAMC Tuesday morning. He said he wasn’t aware that work on the gym floors of the high schools had started until Thursday of last week when he smelled the fumes on an unrelated tour at Taconic.
“I conducted an investigation yesterday, just to really dig into why the floor refinishing is typically scheduled at this time of year," Curtis told WAMC. "And I also asked for a listing of refinishing dates from past years. And so, it's really a complex list of reasons, particularly related to the sports teams that utilize the gym in the fall, primarily volleyball. And then, as you know, our basketball season is starting right when we return from Thanksgiving break. And it all relates to slip resistance.”
WAMC asked why it took so long for Ostellino to get the federally mandated Safety Data Sheets about the fumes, and why they were seven years old.
“When the person made a request for the spec sheet, it was available that same day in the office," Curtis answered. "The spec sheet, from what I've been told, the same floor refinisher has been used this entire time, and that was the spec sheet that the person filling in for the custodial director had on file.”
Curtis acknowledged that Ostellino’s warning had indeed come in well before the emergency dismissal Friday morning.
“I can only speak to any concerns that were addressed to me, and there was a staff member that called my office that Thursday afternoon," said the superintendent. "But as I was saying earlier, I wasn't in my office at all. I did not receive an email or an inquiry on that Thursday, so I can't speak to who that was directed or the timeliness they responded. But I can speak to when I became aware of it, my inquiry, and then obviously, you saw my action taken the next day.”
WAMC asked the superintendent to explain why the district operated on the contractor’s schedule for the hazardous project as opposed to its own calendar.
“I can fully admit that my familiarity with this history of gym floor refinishing, time of year, why, all of that- I was very vague on, particularly because when I started my tenure as the superintendent, we were not refinishing the floors, because it was during the pandemic," Curtis told WAMC. "So that process had taken a pause. So my gathering information, you know, as I indicated, just previously started when I saw I smelt that, you know, odor within Taconic, and then certainly the next day when we had to take action.”
Curtis reiterated his public apology and said he is attempting to address the situation internally.
“I've already met with our custodial director and indicated that moving forward, the gym floors will not be refinished while school is in session, and that he will now coordinate that that effort with the city of Pittsfield’s building and facilities director," he told WAMC. "In previous years, the athletic director has taken that responsibility on for what he describes lack of responsiveness. But I made it clear with him that this is a building maintenance concern, and that our custodial director and the director of the facilities and maintenance for the city will be taking that responsibility on from this point forward.”
Ostellino says the situation has left her frustrated.
“My concern is that there was plenty of notice, and I think no one is taking the responsibility that there was notice, and most people are acting as if this is the first time that this has happened," she told WAMC. "It is not. It happened in, like I said, when the floors were put in. And the fact that this could have happened at both Pittsfield High School and Taconic without people having prior knowledge is almost laughable to me, because you've got hundreds and thousands of students in a building. You should know who is coming in and out and when. And it's not the fault of one person. It is a chain of command that broke down.”
The United Educators of Pittsfield, the union representing Ostellino and other teachers in the city’s school system, did not respond to requests for comment.
