Portland schools' health & safety chief fought water testing, spread misinformation
Source: The Oregonian
Portland Public Schools' senior manager for environmental health and safety, Andy Fridley, resisted testing school water quality and spread false information about the safety of drinking water in schools, email records show.
Fridley was the point person charged with protecting students and employees in Oregon's largest school district from environmental hazards for two years. Superintendent Carole Smith put him on paid leave June 2 due to his role in the district's response to high lead levels at two schools.
Fridley's written statements to parents, colleagues and bosses, however, portray him as misinformed about water quality regulations and equipment as well as resistant to efforts to measure and improve water quality. Emails show he mocked a parent who expressed concern about lead levels one or two milligrams below the federal action level as "zero lead in water lady."
The Oregonian/OregonLive was the first media outlet to request emails sent and received by Fridley and other senior Portland officials regarding lead in water, on May 27. The school district released roughly 900 pages of emails Wednesday.
Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2016/06/portland_schools_health_safety.html#incart_2box
This story is just getting uglier every day.
