School Reopens After Solving Its Oil Crisis

Students returned to Park Avenue Elementary School in Cudahy on Monday, 15 months after they were driven off the campus by pools of petroleum sludge that oozed from the ground beneath the playground.

As their parents looked on cautiously, hundreds of children pranced across the newly covered playground, some stooping to touch the rough blue surface, others more interested in getting in a quick game of tag before the morning bell.

“I missed this school every day we were gone,” said 8-year-old Johanna Bonilla, who said she didn’t like being bused to Teresa Hughes Elementary School. “Some kids there used to say, ‘Park Avenue kids glow in the dark,’ and they say we’re contaminated.”

Her classmate Vanessa Garcia was happy to be back because “here, they give us sugar with our cornflakes.”

Since July of 1989, when the school was shut down, state and school officials have been working feverishly on the $2-million cleanup of the playground.

Park Avenue school, at 8020 Park Ave., is located above an old dump. Several months ago, officials of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which includes Cudahy, identified at least 11 companies that they believe are responsible for the dumping. Pat Spencer, a district spokesman, said it is unknown whether the firms will be required to help pay for the cleanup.

An environmental firm hired by the district earlier this year determined that the petroleum-based waste was not harmful to the children unless they had prolonged, repeated and direct contact with it, but district officials decided not to reopen the school until the petroleum was either cleaned up or contained.

After studying several options, an environmental task force of parents, teachers, and state, local and federal officials decided during the summer to cover the playground with a 10-inch-thick plastic liner. The liner was covered with gravel, sand and asphalt to keep the petroleum sludge from percolating to the surface. In addition to the liner, a gas ventilation system was installed throughout the playground and will be monitored each month for noxious fumes.

District officials said the liner is temporary, though environmental consultants have said it could be used permanently.

Los Angeles Unified School District board member Leticia Quezada said a few more coatings of polyurethane will be applied.

“The most important thing is that the students and staff are back home, and their school is safe,” she said.

Some parents were a little more cautious than Quezada. They said they thought the school was “pretty safe now” and they did not know how long it would last, but “it was great to be back.”

For years, dime-sized puddles of tarry ooze had marked the surface of the Park Avenue playground during hot months, but it was not until last year that teachers and parents expressed fear that the ooze might be harmful to the children.

In an atmosphere of anger, fear and some hysteria, the school was shut down and the 1,100 students were divided between Teresa Hughes, Elizabeth Street School and Clara Street Primary Center. After 15 months, students and teachers said they were glad to be back.

“My kids were getting up at 5:45 every day to catch the bus,” said parent Sara Landeros, referring to the 15-month stretch when the children were bused elsewhere. “That’s an eight-hour day for a kid. It’s tough on them. I watched them work here, and I feel everything will be OK.”

Said fourth-grade teacher Cathy Ashdown: “I know it’s corny, but there is no place like home. They were very hospitable at the other (schools), but we were visitors there. I think the leave made us appreciate what we had here at Park Avenue.”