Jennings School Playscapes To Reopen After Weeks-Long Remediation

FAIRFIELD, CT — The playscapes at Jennings Elementary School will reopen Tuesday after undergoing a weeks-long remediation process to remove arsenic discovered in the area, according to the Fairfield school district. The contamination was found during widespread testing of town and school properties in late 2019, which was a result of the revelation that contaminated material from the Fairfield fill pile appeared to have been spread across public sites.

As of Monday, the Jennings playscapes were clean and new mulch was in place, Superintendent Mike Cummings told residents in a message posted on Facebook by Board of Education Secretary Jessica Gerber. The ramp on the left playscape will not be usable for the rest of the year due to soil removal and will be blocked off. School officials hope to fix the ramp over the summer with requested funding in the 2020-21 budget.

"We owe a great deal of thanks to the staff, and most importantly, the students of Jennings, for their patience during this long process," Cummings said in the message.

The Jennings remediation began in late November and was conducted by ACV Enviro with on-site supervision from environmental consultant Tighe & Bond. According to a Dec. 13 change order document from the town, contractor payments for the work at Jennings totaled about $170,000.

Although the arsenic was found during contamination testing motivated by concerns about misuse of town fill, the elevated levels at Jennings have been tied to treated wood timbers at the playscapes. The tests followed a controversy that rocked Fairfield in early August, when the public works director, the public works superintendent and a former town contractor were charged with several felonies — including forgery, larceny and dumping — in connection with the operation of the fill pile.

The same week the charges were announced, asbestos at a local park was reported to police, and later that month, the town began announcing more potentially contaminated sites associated with the pile. Testing and remediation has been underway for months, with more than 70 sites evaluated so far. The vast majority have been deemed safe, but some areas were found to be contaminated.

With Jennings set to reopen, the only school sites that remain closed due to contamination will be a walkway at Mill Hill Elementary School and part of a courtyard at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, according to the district website.