By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – Parents of a Fox Creek Elementary School student believe dangerous farm chemicals from adjacent farmland are being sprayed near the kids, and that school administrators have failed to address the problem.
Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel is now investigating Janine and Thomas Maeres’ concerns.
Thomas Maere told the Unit 5 School Board he became aware of the situation when he went to the school in southwest Bloomington late last Monday morning.
“I walked out (and) immediately was overcome by the smell, and the taste of the chemical.”
Maere said he noticed more than a hundred kids were playing outside, so he confronted the farmer, who told him the chemical he was spraying wasn’t dangerous.
“I said, ‘that’s ridiculous.’ I said, ‘there’s no way that that chemical is not harmful.’ I said, ‘do you have kids?’ He said, ‘no.’ I said, ‘Well that makes a lot of sense to me.”‘
Maere’s wife, Janine, a medical doctor, said the chemical was the herbicide Treflan that kills broadleaf weeds. She’s angry at the school’s initial response, that included an email to parents saying while the chemical’s smell is very unpleasant, it’s not a health concern.
Dr. Maere said even the email’s subject line attempted to sugarcoat the situation.
“‘It’s Farming Season at Fox Creek.’ If that’s all you saw come through your email, would you have any idea that your child had been exposed to a chemical? It makes it sound like we’re have agricultural day at the elementary school. That’s ridiculous. I may not have even opened it if I wasn’t looking for it,” Dr. Maere said.
Superintendent Mark Daniel said it’s understandable the parents are worried about their child’s safety, and some procedures might have to be changed.
“Apparently, we do need some differing protocol, especially when we have this type of thing happen,” said Daniel.
Dr. Maere said she’s written area lawmakers calling for legislation requiring better communication between school districts and farmers who spray chemicals near schools.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].
