PUPILS LEAVE WONDERING ABOUT FUTURE Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA) - August 27, 1994 Author/Byline: RHONDA NABONNE Staff writer Section: NATIONAL Page: A1 Tiffany Major, 7, solemnly packed her books in a Schwegmann paper grocery bag, and as she prepared to leave Moton Elementary School for the last time, she wondered if she'd ever see her teacher again. Tiffany, who with almost 500 other children started classes at Moton six weeks ago, began an unexpected leave of absence Friday, the latest turn of events in the school's controversial history. "I wonder where these books are going," said Tiffany, who isn't expected to know until late next week where she will be attending classes. "I don't want a new teacher." Moton, a state-of-the-art, $5.9 million school built on an old dump in the 9th Ward, was shut down Friday by Superintendent Morris Holmes Jr. The decision was made after the Environmental Protection Agency designated the land beneath the campus and 300 surrounding homes a Superfund hazardous waste site. The students' departure Friday was orderly as they began a weeklong break. Meanwhile, the rest of the public school system's children prepare to start the new academic year Monday. Late Friday, top school administrators were meeting to review what one associate superintendent said are "several options" for relocating Moton's students. A decision, which must be approved by the School Board, is expected to be announced Thursday. Moton faculty members must report to the shuttered school Monday to start packing equipment and materials. Moton's closure disrupts its year-round education program, in which the year is divided into 45-day quarters with 15-day breaks in between. Students weren't due for a break until Sept. 19. Over the years, Moton has been the center of strenuous debate. The old school of the same name was built in 1957 across the street from the Desire public housing complex, but in the 1970s parents forced the board to pull the plug on the rapidly deteriorating building. Some Desire residents wanted the school rebuilt at the original site, saying it improved the community and helped pull neighbors together. But 9th Ward area leaders campaigned for the new site - a mile from the housing development - saying the land should be made a viable part of the Desire area. Paid for with sales tax proceeds, Moton was built at 3000 Abundance St. and opened in 1987. Friday, students left behind air conditioning, a library with skylights and computers and television monitors in every classroom. "This is one of the finest schools we have in the system," Mary Addison, Tiffany's third-grade teacher, said as she helped children pack textbooks. Moton is bordered by townhouses built in the early 1970s, single-family homes and a New Orleans Recreation Department playground and gym where a group of older youngsters were playing basketball Friday. After lead and other potentially hazardous materials were found on the school site in 1983, state environmental authorities assured the School Board that the property could be made suitable by replacing the contaminated topsoil with material such as river sand or clay. Some parents, along with then-School Board member Harwood "Woody" Koppel, nevertheless questioned the safety of the site, a former municipal landfill that also had been used to burn debris from Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and to dispose of ash from city incinerators. "We have to leave because if we stay here all the time we might get sick or something," Tiffany said. "The building's on toxic waste." Erica Atkins, an 8-year-old third-grader, said most of the students avoided drinking out of the water fountains at school. "Everybody says your face will turn green," Erica said. "I drank out of the fountain once and everybody made fun of me and said, 'Girl, you're drinking from that toxic water.' " Although the EPA has declared as recently as this week that the school is safe, Holmes decided to close it, arguing that the parents fear for the health of their children. Some teachers said attendance in their classrooms has been down in the last few days, as the administration weighed abandoning the building. As a janitor locked Moton's gates Friday, school Principal Paulette Bruno urged that parents "not panic" and send their children to other schools before the board makes its decision. "Let's keep the family together," she said. ====================================================== #ART: A SCHOOL'S SHORT LIFE -----------------------------------------------------1975 New Orleans School Board buys a 4-acre site in Press Park and Gordon Plaza neighborhood for $164,000. 1980 Original Moton Elementary School at 3101 Desire Parkway demolished because it is sinking and deteriorating. October 1982 School Board votes 4-0 to build a new Moton school at 3000 Abundance St. October 1993 Soil tests conducted for the board at the proposed site find potentially hazardous materials. February 1985 Feb. 12 - Groundbreaking ceremonies for hte $5.9 million school called off over concerns that plans to seal the land still might not make it safe. Feb. 25 - An Ochsner Clinic doctor reports that the site contains materials known or suspected to cause cancer. April 1985 School baord votes 3-2 to excavate the site and replace some of the contaminated soil with "clean" material. Pavia-Byrne Engineering Corp. says that, under Environmental Protection Agency standards, the site can be made safe. Yea vote: Gail Glapion, Rose Loving and Mack Spears. Nay votes: John F. Robert and Harwood "Woody" Koppel. April 1987 - New Moton school opens. August 1994 Aug. 18 - EPkA says site including Gordon Plaza, Press Park and Moton school qualifies for Superfund status, making it eligible for federal cleanup money. Friday - School Board closes Moton school. ====================================================== STAFF GRAPHIC _________________________ Illustration: FINAL BELL AT MOTION - Above, Moton Elementary School teacher Valerie Rogers hus Ciera Amar outside Moton on the school's last day Friday. The rear exit gate of Moton, top right, stands padlock after the school was shut down. [COLOR] 2 STAFF PHOTOS BY G. ANDREW BOYD Memo: G13 MOTON'S TIMELINE 8.94/26 Record: 9408270083 Copyright: Copyright, 1994, The Times-Picayune Publishing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 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