Wayland Wrong To Take Bottled Water From Schools: Letter

The following is a letter to the editor and does not reflect the views of Wayland Patch

I am an educator in the Wayland Public Schools. I am in shock regarding the Board of Selectmen’s cavalier decision not to pay for bottled water in three of our five schools.

As many of your readers know, our town has elevated levels of PFAS, the “forever chemicals,” in our water supply that is deemed unsafe and unacceptable by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

During the Board’s meeting on Oct. 18, the Town Administrator told our elected leaders that testing was done and that water is potable at the middle, high and Claypit Hill schools. She confirmed that the town should continue to pay for bottled water at the Happy Hollow and Loker Schools, because that water is not potable.

Where are the results that the levels of PFAS are acceptable for all our schools? Has the water from the faucets at each of our schools been tested? The results don’t appear to be updated on the website. This information should be readily available on the website for all community members. The town has acknowledged that it will pay for bottled water at two schools because it cannot provide clean water for those schools, but all the schools’ water comes from all the same wells. This doesn’t seem like a smart risk that the town should take, especially for our students and educators that are immunocompromised.

Furthermore, the Board of Selectmen agreed that the roughly $18,000 cost to provide water to all the schools is minimal; why won’t the town pay for this cost? Their decision to have the school district pay for bottled water will take away from crucial resources that should be used for our students’ education. The school district's budget should be spent on educational costs with regard to teaching and learning. At the very least, the town should be able to provide test results that the water coming from the faucets at each building is potable.

The Board of Selectmen is abdicating its responsibility to provide clean water for our school buildings. The town, which has yet to address the root cause of the problem, needs to do better for our students: clean water is a basic need.

—Jessie Villatoro, President Wayland Teachers Association