Comptroller Stringer Calls for Release of DOE Lead Paint Inspection Reports

(New York, NY) – Following his investigation showing systemic failures to proactively prevent lead exposure, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer sent a letter to the Department of Education requesting full records of all lead-based paint inspections for the past five years.

In September, Comptroller Stringer released an investigation revealing a clear failure by the City to leverage its own Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) data to identify lead hotspots and use that data to target inspections by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

The text of the letter is below. To read the full letter, click here.

Safeguarding our children from the severe harms associated with the ingestion of lead paint has been recognized as among this City’s highest priorities. However, as we found in our office’s recent investigation, eliminating childhood lead poisoning would require every City agency with responsibility for children, buildings and health not merely to abide by the letter of the law but to work proactively to pursue every opportunity to eliminate lead hazards and prevent exposure.

In that regard, I am writing to request information relating to the Department of Education’s (DOE’s) efforts over the past five years to identify and ameliorate lead paint hazards in our schools. Reporting from outlets such as WNYC has exposed instances of apparent lead contamination in the classrooms of some of DOE’s youngest students. Indeed, DOE’s subsequent reports of its own testing results revealed that as many as 1,860 classrooms contained lead paint conditions that required stabilization. One grade school in Queens that serves vulnerable children with physical and mental impairments was found to have as many as 32 classrooms requiring stabilization. Data provided to the public by DOE tells us that all classrooms with known lead hazards have now been stabilized and repaired, but the fact that 22 percent of the classrooms surveyed required intervention raises questions about the effectiveness of DOE’s previous efforts to identify and preemptively address such issues.

To better understand how DOE addresses potential lead‑based paint hazards in our schools and monitors conditions associated with such hazards, and pursuant to the Comptroller’s authority under Section 93 of the New York City Charter, the Comptroller’s Office requests that you provide the following records for all DOE schools for the five-year period that immediately precedes the date of your response:

Records of all surveys, inspections, and survey and inspection results evidencing or relating to DOE’s efforts to identify potential lead-based paint hazards in schools, including but not limited to (i) every annual survey of the condition of surfaces in classrooms and other areas used by children under six years of age where the surfaces of such classrooms or other areas are covered with lead-based paint or paint of unknown lead content, and (ii) any and all survey and inspection results obtained through the use of XRF devices. […]

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