New York education officials have announced that pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students will be relocated from the basement of PS 372's annex building, located near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The move comes after mounting pressure from parents and media reports highlighting concerns over toxic air contamination.
Students will be temporarily moved to other floors within the annex and to the main school building. This relocation will allow state officials to install additional ventilation systems aimed at filtering the toxic air. District 75 Superintendent Dr. Keisha McCoy communicated this plan in a letter to families on Friday.
However, some parents and environmental experts have criticized the decision as insufficient and overdue. Walter Hang, president of Environmental Health Research Group, stated that the relocation acknowledges that students should not have been in the basement for the past two and a half years, directly challenging the assertion that no problem existed. Parents discovered this summer that mitigation efforts initiated in 2024 at the annex, situated at 219 First St., had not been successful.
PS 372 serves approximately 450 students, with the annex building housing not only the youngest grades but also specialty classes like art and gym. The school operates on a unique model that integrates students with and without special needs in every classroom, providing services for developmental, learning, physical, and emotional disabilities.
School and state officials maintain that the levels of detected chemicals, including carcinogens benzene and xylene, do not pose an increased health risk to students and staff. Michelle Tsai, who started a petition criticizing Governor Kathy Hochul, stated, "No level of benzene is safe." While calling the relocation of young children a step in the right direction, Tsai emphasized that parents will continue to advocate for the remediation of the pollution before any children return to the basement space.
Julia Finegan, a parent and member of the group Clean Air for PS 372, described the decision as a "last-minute" move that indicates "New York State’s complete failure to protect our children and the teachers and staff" for over two years. A petition demanding Governor Hochul's resignation over the handling of the school's air quality issues has gathered more than 850 signatures.
The ventilation systems installed by the state have been described by critics as temporary fixes for a broader issue of soil and air pollution in the Gowanus area. Parents have also expressed dissatisfaction with the school's principal, Rosa Amato, who reportedly admitted to being sometimes "too busy" to relay critical health information to families. Concerns have been raised about communication failures and the prolonged mitigation issues at the school.
Officials from Governor Hochul's office and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment.