Lead Poisoning: The Ignored Scandal

A new book, Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America's Children, written by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, documents the studies conducted on toddlers in Baltimore by Johns Hopkins University in the 1990s.  Yes, that is right, the 1990s.  The study was conducted by researchers J. Julian Chisolm (deceased), and Mark Farfel.  This review, by Helen Epstein, in The New York Review of Books, recounts the studies and the effects on the children, whose parents were not told about the lead in their homes and whose children suffered the devastating effects of lead poisoning.

Excerpt:

In December 1993, a slum landlord in Baltimore named Lawrence Polakoff rented an apartment to a twenty-one-year-old single mother and her three-year-old son, Max. A few days after they moved in, Max’s mother was invited to participate in a research study comparing how well different home renovation methods protected children from lead poisoning, which is still a major problem endangering the health of millions of American children, many of them poor.

Congress had banned the sale of interior lead paint in 1978, but it remained on the walls of millions of homes nationwide, and there was no adequate federal program to deal with it. In Baltimore, most slum housing contained at least some lead paint, and nearly half of the children who lived in these houses had levels of lead in their blood well above that considered safe by the Centers for Disease Control. Max’s blood lead was low when he moved into Polakoff’s apartment, but Polakoff had been cited at least ten times in the past for violating Baltimore’s lead paint regulations, and several former tenants would later sue him for poisoning their children, so the boy was now in great danger.

The research study in which Max and his mother participated was run by two scientists affiliated with Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University with support from the US Environmental Protection Agency. The scientists had formed a partnership with a local contractor, who identified slum landlords like Polakoff and urged them to rent preferentially to families with children aged six months to four years, just when they start crawling around the house and when lead exposure is most dangerous to the developing brain. If the parents agreed, their home would receive one of three different types of lead removal and their children—all of whom were healthy and normal and had low blood lead when they joined the study—would be given regular blood tests to see if their lead levels rose or fell

To read the entire review, go here.

Density, the CCT and Overcrowded Schools -- This is planning?

All,
This latest report on the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) and the amazing density planned for Gaithersburg is here, from our friend Donna Baron, the Coordinator for The Gaithersburg-North Potomac-Rockville Coalition.  The density is unsustainable and will create even more overcrowding to our already stressed schools.  Thanks Donna!
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Hi Everyone,

If you were able to attend the meeting about the Corridor Cities Transitway (CCT) last night you probably noticed three things:

The simulations of the CCT alignments looked oddly benign.
The residents of King Farm were there in full force.
There were three possible alignments that would avoid Belward Farm.

The simulations of the CCT alignments did not include wider roads or highway interchanges because the CCT does not require them. However, the staging requirements for the Gaithersburg West (Great Seneca Science Corridor) master plan predicate massive amounts of density on the construction of the CCT even though the County execs are fully aware that it will carry only a fraction of the additional people.

Implementation of the master plan will result in up to 50,000 additional people in the Shady Grove/Belward Farm area but the CCT will carry only 12% to 15% of them. The remaining 40,000 people will require six- and eight-lane highways with twelve- to sixteen-lane highway interchanges along Great Seneca. The County and the developers intentionally set it up this way. They are banking on support for transit to allow them to overdevelop our area.

The CCT simulations did not mention the horns or whistles that will blow at each intersection along the CCT route.

Also missing from the CCT simulations were the tracks and railroad gates that will be built across the entrances to the neighborhoods along the alignment including Washingtonian Woods, Mission Hills, Lakelands and Kentlands as well as Crown Farm and the Rio.

King Farm will have the whole package running through the middle of their community, within 20 feet of some of the condos...tracks, railroad gates, blocked streets and horns or whistles.

The over-flow crowd included 50 to 100 residents from King Farm who oppose the CCT alignment through their community. The residents gave very cogent and convincing testimony and they presented the state with a petition with 1000 names from residents requesting a change in the alignment avoiding their walkable community.

One resident said she has visited many cities with bus rapid transit or light rail but the transits did not run through or adjacent to suburban residential neighborhoods. They operated in urban, commercial or industrial areas which would mitigate some of the above issues.

Some of the CCT alignment charts showed three possible alignments that would avoid crossing Belward Farm and the Washingtonian Woods/Mission Hills intersection. That was a positive note.

There were two residents who testified in favor of the CCT but I’m wondering if they have thought about the trip down Great Seneca as the CCT is built, then the road is widened to six-lanes and then the twelve-lane, two-level interchange is built at Muddy Branch and the sixteen-lane three-level interchange is built at Sam Eig. Are they lost in the fantasy of hopping on the rail to go to their every destination or are they dealing with the reality of the impending debacle?

The CCT should not be funded until a comprehensive, accurate traffic analysis is completed and Montgomery County develops a rational approach to additional development that will protect existing neighborhoods and historic properties.

There is still time to write to the state officials to express your opinions.

Contact info:

Governor Martin O’Malley - http://www.governor.maryland.gov/mail/
Transportation Secretary Beverly Swaim-Staley - secretary@mdot.state.md.us
Rick Kiegel, mail to: rkiegel@mtamaryland.com

Please forward this to your friends and neighbors. It seems that there are still many residents who are unaware of the implications of the master plan and the CCT. Testimony regarding the CCT can be found on the website, http://www.scale-it-back.com/.

Thanks and best regards,

Donna Baron
Coordinator
The Gaithersburg - North Potomac - Rockville Coalition

How to Deal with Snow - Lessons from Baltimore Educational Elite

This blog previously reported that Nancy Grasmick, State Superintendent of Schools, plans to waive the 180 day requirement for the K-12 educational programs under her supervision. According to the Gazette, Dr. Grasmick says we need to be "sensitive to the weather." Really? Isn't that why snow days are built into school calendars?

What about concern for the education of the students? What about taxpayers who have paid to support their schools? Why is weather a big surprise?

Those of us who have been in MoCo know that our own Dr. Weast frequently cites Harvard as an example of educational excellence.

So - how does a university show that it is "sensitive to the weather?"

Here is an e-mail sent out to students at Johns Hopkins University. They too have been hit by record snows - and are still digging out much the same as we are in the DC suburbs.

Dear Homewood Students, Faculty and Staff:

Though we've now lost an entire week of classes to the historic back-to-back Blizzards of 2010, the university expects to resume its normal schedule on Monday. To ensure that our students have as complete and rich an academic experience as intended, we now are faced with the question of how to get the semester back on track and make up the lost time. We have consulted with faculty members in the Krieger and Whiting schools, with student leaders and with the various offices that would be affected by a change in the academic calendar. We have now come up with a plan.

We looked at canceling spring break. We looked at scheduling makeup classes in the evenings and on weekends. Both options would be, we feel, far too disruptive.

We have decided instead to extend the semester, compressing some activities so that we can add just a few days to the academic year and can continue with plans to hold Commencement on the long-scheduled date of May 27.

The original schedule for the Krieger and Whiting schools looked like this:

Monday, April 26-Friday, April 30: Last week of classes
Monday, May 3- Wednesday, May 5: Reading period
Thursday, May 6-Thursday, May 13: Examinations (Sunday, May 9, unscheduled =
for use as a "conflict resolution" day)
Thursday, May 27: Commencement

This revised schedule will recapture the lost week of classes:

Monday, May 3-Friday, May 7: Last week of classes
Saturday, May 8-Sunday, May 9: Reading period
Monday, May 10-Sunday, May 16: Examinations (no unscheduled day)
Thursday, May 27: Commencement

By compressing the reading and exam periods, we will delay the end of exams by only three days.

These changes will cause some inconvenience; they may require you to change travel or other arrangements that you thought just a week ago were locked in. But we believe our plan will cause the least possible disruption. Among a number of unappealing alternatives, this, we believe, is by far the most palatable for the most people.

Please note that the Registrar's Office will release a revised detailed examination schedule in the near future. Our thanks, in advance, go to all of you for making this amended academic calendar work in the best interest of our students.

It has been a trying week! Our deepest thanks to everyone who has worked so hard under extraordinary conditions to keep things going and to everyone working now to bring us back toward normal, a state that seemed unimaginable at the height of Wednesday's blizzard.

We particularly want to acknowledge the amazing work of the university's
grounds and custodial crews, everyone in Residential Life, Housing and Dining, and Campus Security, all of whom have made herculean efforts to keep our students safe, secure and comfortable. Thanks also to the Eisenhower Library staff; they went the extra mile to keep the library open when they could and provided services online when there was no choice but to close.

Let us suggest that when you see any of these hard-working Johns Hopkins employees over the next few days, you add your own personal word of thanks to them. They deserve it!

Sincerely,

Adam F. Falk
James B. Knapp Dean
Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Nicholas P. Jones
Benjamin T. Rome Dean
Whiting School of Engineering

Read the email carefully. It's not just sensitivity to weather. JHU administrators are interested in delivering a "complete and rich" educational experience, even if the alternatives may be an inconvenience to some.

Funny, we have our own yardstick of educational excellence right in our own backyard. It's just up Charles Street from Dr. Gramick's office.  Aren't our youngest children also entitled to a complete and rich academic experience?   Let's not forget that a significant portion of MCPS kids are on free and reduced meals - and don't get fed every day school isn't open.   Or is the MSDE motto that "Achievement Matters Most" only limited to a pretty image on their webpage?

Summer Learning

Open Letter to the Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning:

Dear Directors Fairchild and Libit:

I am writing you concerning the recent award to Montgomery County Public Schools of the "Champion of Summer Learning Award." While everyone in Montgomery County agrees that the ELO-SAIL is a valuable program, parents of students with disabilities were extremely discouraged to see MCPS awarded as a "champion of summer learning" when MCPS has engaged in a campaign over the last several years to eliminate, reduce, and cut back extended school year services for students with disabilities.

As you know, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides for extended school year services during the summer for students with disabilities who meet certain criteria. MCPS had to be sued many years ago in federal court in order to force them to comply with this portion of the law. MCPS was monitored for several years on their compliance and provision of services.

Since the monitoring has ceased, however, MCPS has systematically reduced the amount of extended school year services available during the summer, found more children "ineligible" than in previous years, and reduced the quantity of services that they do provide to eligible children.

Children with disabilities, including severe disabilities like autism, come from families of all socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities. Surely the Center for Summer Learning sees the corresponding need for high-quality summer education programs provided to students with disabilities, who, just like the students in the ESO-SAIL program, could benefit from programs targeted to maintain their skills and boost those skills in preparation for the upcoming school year. Unfortunately, many students with disabilities who need this summer programming are not getting it.

Would you be willing to issue a statement from your organization (the National Center for Summer Learning) supporting providing summer services to students with disabilities and encouraging MCPS to follow both the Letter and the Spirit of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act with regard to Extended School Year Services? I anxiously await your response.

Sincerely,

Lyda Astrove
Rockville, MD