Cole Middle School OKs $26K for Soil Contamination Tests

School officials have chosen a contractor to test for contaminated soil this summer at Cole Middle School.

The school board Monday OK’d a $26,441 contract with Reading, PA,-based Karl & Associates for analysis of three “areas of concern,” according to a report. 

The areas to be tested are a location on the west side of the school where a 10,000 gallon heating oil tank was removed nearly 20 years ago, locations that registered high polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during a 2007 investigation, and the southwest corner of the campus, which includes part of the football field, and where fill was once brought, NorthJersey.com reported.

But District Business Administrator Cheryl Balletto, attempting to assuage potential public concern, said there was currently no definitive proof that the soil is tainted at Cole Middle School, which according to reports was once a dumping ground during construction of the George Washington Bridge.

“The testing has not been done yet,” Balletto told The Record. “This is to do that testing so that we get the answers and then fix it in the proper way—if anything comes back.”