On November 18th, an emergency dismissal was issued at the Pittsfield and Taconic high schools over noxious fumes emerging from floor refinishing projects in both buildings. Students and staff members reported experiencing nosebleeds, headaches, vomiting, and other reactions to the chemicals. WAMC subsequently broke the story that a veteran teacher had warned Superintendent Joe Curtis about health concerns stemming from the fumes at least a day before he took action.
Curtis issued an apology to the community on the day of the dismissal. He told WAMC that he did not know the project was taking place and that such projects would no longer take place during the school year. Speaking with WAMC this week, Mayor Linda Tyer characterized the situation as “a big mistake,” but stood by Curtis as steward of the city’s public schools.
Wednesday night, Curtis delivered a statement at a meeting of the school committee about what happened.
“The superintendent of schools has not historically been involved in identifying or scheduling maintenance in our school buildings," he said. "Since becoming interim superintendent, and then superintendent, I have not been involved in these matters either. Pursuant to the city charter, Pittsfield public school buildings are the property, and for maintenance purposes, the responsibility of the municipal government. Therefore, we do not have or never have had a school department facilities manager. The responsibility in this regard has primary primarily fallen on the city's director of buildings and maintenance and the PPS custodial director.”
But Curtis said that this month’s work on the gym floors was an exception.
“Based on numerous requests and demands in prior years from our fall sports teams and ensuring the gym floors were acceptable for their sports practices and matches, particularly volleyball and basketball, the athletic director scheduled this maintenance in conformity with the district's past practice,” he explained.
Curtis told the committee that previously such work had been done at both PHS and Taconic while school was in session multiple times over the past decade.
“Due to the pandemic, as I was beginning my tenure as superintendent, the gym floors were not refinished in the 2020-21 school year," he said. "Moreover, in my role as deputy superintendent, I had no involvement with this process. Nor was I informed of any past complaints from school community members, nor was I made aware of any agreement or assurance that the floor finishing would not take place when school was in session.”
The superintendent said he’d followed through on his promise to investigate the incident and had already taken steps to address it.
“After my investigation I provided a written directive on November 22nd, 2022, to the custodial director, the city of Pittsfield’s director of building and maintenance, and the athletic director that clearly stated that the refinishing of the gym floors was to occur during the summer, while school is not in session, and would no longer be coordinated by the athletic director as building maintenance is not his area of oversight or expertise," said Curtis. "I also met with all of our school principals and reaffirmed that according to local school committee policy [communication] 31, visitors to school, and Mass General Law chapter 71, section 59 B, no person or persons should be in a school building without the principal’s knowledge and consent to visit for purposes of maintenance or repairs or any other reason. A written directive signed by Mayor Tyer and I has been sent to all school and district leadership, along with the city of Pittsfield department heads, to memorialize this expectation that is supported by local policy and Mass General Law.”
When pressed by the committee to explain why the safety data sheet associated with the project was dated 2015, Curtis admitted he did not know.
A night before, the teacher who blew the whistle on the situation to WAMC – Lisa Ostellino – used the open mic portion of the Pittsfield city council meeting to say that her concerns about safety in the city’s schools go beyond just the gym floors.
“This is decades and decades of miscommunication and mismanagement between the city, the school department and everybody that works underneath that," said Ostellino. "After nearly two weeks, I am still unable to walk into the building without an immediate headache from the now dissipated fumes and my heart races as I walked down the halls. There's even more questions now than answers surrounding this mistake. And with all due respect Mayor, this was no mistake.”
Curtis says a full copy of his investigation into the fumes incident will be available in his superintendent’s report Friday.
