Roosevelt High School’s Contaminated Water
How long has a product containing anti-freeze been leaking into the school’s drinking water system?
November 18, 2021, when a cook in the kitchen preparing a hot lunch at Roosevelt High School in Portland, Oregon saw water the was clear, but with the consistency of jello, flow out of the kitchen faucet, she went to the custodian in the building who talked with the school’s maintenance man and asked him to take a look.
Upon arrival in the kitchen area, the maintenance man saw Brian Taylor, director of Portland Public School (PPS) maintenance and Patrick Stevens, manager of contractors in the boiler room adjacent to the kitchen.
The two high level Portland Public School managers were already on site unbeknownst to the crew charged with keeping the school orderly and safe. One anonymous PPS insider source’s knowledge of the PPS management said, “They already knew there was a problem, and it was the heat exchanger.”
Since completion of the $54 million renovation in 2016 there have been heating and cooling problems in the school. The fixing of such problems are described as “band-aid fixes”, the work done by contractors. The hiring of contractors is the responsibility of Stevens.
The clear, like jello water (that contains an ingredient found in anti-freeze), why it happened at the moment Taylor and Stevens were in the boiler room is not clear. Just a coincidence? Roosevelt is hooked up remotely to the bigger Portland Public School District. For the reader and teen students perhaps an image of the Star Trek USS Enterprise Bridge may be helpful. At the PPS bridge Taylor and Stevens saw at the Control Panels something was still amiss and visited Roosevelt on November 18th.
The boiler room close to the kitchen made the first outpouring of water arrive there as opposed to a drinking fountain at the end of some long hall in the school. We know of no student or students reporting jello like water the consistency of anti-freeze coming from any faucet or drinking fountain.
Visiting the high school on December 2nd, the principal was not on site, Vice-Principal Liz Mahlum refused to answer questions, a copy of the questions was handed to her. She stated she would not scan and would not send the questions to the principal. Mahlum stated all press need to call the Press Communication director whose name she could not remember.
Outside of the school building talking to three teens who attend Roosevelt they shared the students got a communication over the loudspeaker one day about the water not being drinkable, nothing said as to why and yes, hot lunch continued to be served daily.
One student said if parents had been told of the contamination his parents would have told him. Mahlum re-emerged from the school building with two security men to say to leave the premises. Mahlum and security were advised all pandemic restrictions ended with Governor Kate Brown’s June 25th executive order. Mahlum stated they were reinstated in August. Mahlum was advised that is not how the emergency law works.
This problem could have been going on for many weeks or months, thus bringing up the question how long and how much contaminated water was consumed by students, containing what folks commonly call anti-freeze, called glycol, that has been leaking and leeching into the water supply. The school advised, that yes, the water is not drinkable.
The glycol could have been leaking for weeks, months, hard to know, in the recently renovated high school that serves up to 1350 students, a building reportedly made all new to the tune of $54 million.
If the heating/cooling system had problems from 2016 on, did the problem also contaminate the drinking water system and if so for how long? Will parents be given a transparent report along with water test results?
PPS director of Maintenance and PPS manager of contractors were in the boiler room adjacent to the kitchen unbeknownst to the cook. What did the superintendent, Guadalupe Guerrero, know about this problem and for how long has he known it? Did the superintendent tell the PPS Board of Directors and tell the parents of the students at Roosevelt?
No such information is on the school website. Has a cover up been going on and if so for how long?
Returning from the visit to the high school another inside source, another eye-witness disclosed sudden outpouring of clear jello water like anti-freeze was a result of a bad fix that was done sometime before November 18th, but the exact date has not been tied down. The parts (see photo) have been saved and secured for future examination and investigation.
Since November 18th what was done or not done to alert the public or to ameliorate the problem? The students said they continue to drink bottled water at the school. What hasn’t been fixed?
A one-hour safety meeting convened on December 1, 2021, thirteen days after the problem was visually discovered by the cook in the kitchen. The Safety meeting is held once a month, this meeting included Taylor, Stevens and the new manager of plumbing, Tony Santiago. Santiago asked Herb Wagner, the Environmental Health and Safety Associate, also at the meeting, a testing the water question. Taylor was said to have diverted the question; it wasn’t answered. The highest level of authority in that system is Joe Crelier, Director of Risk Management.
A later meeting occurred with Taylor and Santiago December 1, 2021, said to have lasted three-hours, and contained much yelling and acrimony, and could be heard by other employees in the office. Santiago was not at work today.
Heat exchangers can fail slowly. Was water contamination known previously, how previously and to what degree and extent was the water toxic?
Are there quality control construction and maintenance problems the Portland Public School Board, superintendent and school administers such as Taylor have known about, but have not addressed nor advised district parents of in terms of health and safety related to contaminated water?
Does the Portland Public School District have, as so many government agencies have, a corruption, collusion good ole boy characteristic of hiring friends as opposed to hiring the most qualified and ethical contractors?
Once behaviors such as not talking to parents, students, school employees, the media, not answering questions, bringing out security to make questions go away, well, the public citizen doing oversight on government will tend to assess such behaviors as it looks like government agents are covering up something, in history, more often than not, it does tend to be cover-ups of wrong-doing.
Has the Portland Public School District Board of Directors and superintendent been so dialed down into forcing mask wearing and injection of students with experimental chemicals for a condition to which no child in Portland, Oregon has died from in two years, did they ignore or cover-up a health risk to 1350 children, the drinking or ingesting glycol (anti-freeze ingredient), do they know how much of glycol got into the drinking water system and kept that information from parents?
The Roosevelt High School website as of December 2, 2021, makes no mention of the contaminated water in the school.
The website is full of information about requiring “vaccines” and testing for COVID, telling parents that a negative test result means they could still be positive, but not telling the parents about false positives.
The website reports they will have vaccine clinics on site at the school. Has the school had vaccine clinics while this contaminated water situation has gone on? Before it was known?
While Roosevelt does not tell parents about the contaminated
water, they are full bore out about a virus that has killed no child in
Portland in two years.
But the glycol hazard in Roosevelt High School is not mentioned on the school’s website? Glycol is on the “Right to Know Hazardous Substance List”.
What does the Roosevelt High School principal, Ms Parman and the four vice-principals know? If so, what action did they take beyond putting up signs that say the fountains were out-of-order and putting in a water station? Why did they not tell parents?
These are the questions asked of and left on a piece of paper with Vice-principal Mahlum, letting her know an article was being written. Mahlum would not answer the questions and stated she would not scan, and she would not send the following questions to the principal:
- “Comment on the heat exchanger breaking and the water contaminated with glycol.
- Are hot lunches still being served at Roosevelt? Has Roosevelt had vaccine clinics? If so on what dates?
- When was the problem first known to the principals and vice-principals?
- How long did Brian Taylor and Patrick Stevens know before November 18th?
- Has Tony Santiago, manager plumbing, has he made an inspection and if so when?
- What testing was done and what were the results?·
- Were parents told and when and how?
- If no, when, and how will they be told?
- When will the heat exchanger be fixed?
· Answers please by 8 pm this evening of the 2nd of December 2021,
Margo Logan Crowvision2007@yahoo.com”
No school official returned call for comment.
Oregonians have wondered more and more out of this shutdown nightmare if there is more to the story, that if no child has died in Portland in two years, what is being covered up by closing down the government whether the legislature or the plethora of unelected government agencies like the Oregon Health Authority or the public schools in all of Oregon?
Even the Portland mainstream media shutdown as though they were a “non-essential” business.
Portland Public School Board Director Herman Greene’s oldest
daughter is a teacher at Roosevelt High School. Did she report to her father? From
Pastor Greene’s campaign website:
It is noted by some who attend the Portland Public School Board of Directors’ meetings, Herman Greene and Gary Hollands appeared to be the two on the board who did not immediately and dismissively reject parents’ concerns.
A number of parents expressed appreciation for that and surmised the board delaying a vote on the “vaccine mandates” for six months was probably because of those two board members.
It was noted at one board meeting as well that both members asked more detailed questions than seemingly the superintendent and his administrative staff had to previously answer.
It was noted by some audience members that the power on the PPS board seem to lay with the superintendent, Guadalupe Guerrero, his administrative staff, and not with the elected board members.
With Herman Greene’s longstanding living in St. Johns, his involvement in the community, his being a Christian pastor in the community (integrated church), his history of being a positive force in the community it might be that the Zone 4 parents have a true advocate on the board this time? From
Herman Greene’s campaign website:
It is unknown at the time of publishing if the board knows of the contaminated water hazard putting 1350 students at risk at a school with a significant population of students of color or were they kept in the dark as well?
The unintended consequence of Governor Kate Brown’s shutdown resulted in more folks getting together, meeting in community, in person, and off social media thus self-educating occurred including taking a closer look at the US Constitution, Oregon Constitution, Bill of Rights and Oregon law (knowing now that “rules” cannot violate law”) and showing up more and more to government agencies to be the in-person witnesses and investigators.
Oregonians are taking back oversight of their elected and unelected government agents, and perhaps the newest members of the Portland Public School board might be the game changer parents and students need?
Students need strong men, need strong ethical father figures in their lives, men who are fearless. If so, then Herman Greene and Gary Hollands might end the secrecy?
As Jesus said, “The Truth will set you free.”
In that freedom, if that new spirit is in the school board, they might be able to form working relationships with parents who are willing to do the work, might be willing to help with the game changing.
Margo Logan
Contributor, Dave Peters
December 2, 2021
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