Thanks, Praise, Honor, and Glory to the Triune God for Leading and Guidance in Documenting Lead Poisoning in the Public Schools and the Obstructions of Justice in Order to Conceal the Indisputable Truths

Contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1:

CHAPTER 2:

CHAPTER 3:

CHAPTER 4:

CHAPTER 5:

CHAPTER 6:

CHAPTER 7:

CHAPTER 8:

CHAPTER 9:

CHAPTER 10:

CHAPTER 11:

CHAPTER 12:

CHAPTER 13:

CHAPTER 14:

CHAPTER 15:

CHAPTER 16:

CHAPTER 17:

CHAPTER 18:

CHAPTER 19:

DEDICATION

This documentary is dedicated to the lives that may have been lost or permanently damaged by the careless, inhumane, unethical, immoral, evil, inexcusable, and unlawful acts by the powers that be who knowingly, willingly, and negligently permitted your lives to be destroyed through exposure to lead poisoning. Also, I dedicate this documentary to my beloved mother, Mrs. Virginia M. Williams, my oldest sister, Mrs. Wilhemenia A. Glenn, my oldest brother, Andrew L. Williams, and my next older brother, Benjamin Williams, whose physical bodies departed this three dimensional world on December 17, 2000, July 11, 2000, July 24, 2004, and on April 19, 1998, respectively, but whose souls and spirits I believe have gone to be in the presence of the TRIUNE GOD. I thank the TRINITY for allowing these family members to live in this earthly realm long enough to witness, support, and approve of my crusade to unearth and end lead poisoning in the public schools in Baltimore City. Moreover, this documentary is devoted to Mrs. Audrey Neal, my dear friend and former colleague, whose soul and spirit went to be in the presence of our HEAVENLY FATHER on March 4, 2006; your adoration, friendship, and commitment to the children will never be forgotten. Also, this documentary is earmarked to Mrs. Gladys Hill, Mother Dear as she was so affectionately known, whose soul and spirit went to be in the presence of the LORD OF hosts on December 28, 2008. Throughout the years, Mrs. Gladys has shown me so much affection, shared her wisdom, and embraced my efforts to uncloak and cease lead poisoning in the public schools. Last but not least, this documentary is dedicated to Mrs. Minnie R. Hill, whose soul and spirit left to join other saints in HEAVEN, that is, to be in the presence of the LORD on January 7, 2010. Mrs. Hill was one of my sweethearts at Sought Out Redeemed Christian School who was always so helpful and compassionate during my efforts to divulge lead poisoning in some of the schools in Baltimore City.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As always, I must first give thanks, praise, honor, and glory to the TRIUNE GOD, who through the prompting and guiding by the HOLY SPIRIT, has aided me throughout this documentary in citing the indisputable truths as evidenced from the records in the various courts and elsewhere. Moreover, I’m truly gratified and appreciative of all the human vessels that have been involved directly or indirectly in the writing of this documentary. A special thanks to my dearly beloved soul mate, Mr. Jimmy D. Porter, and our wonderfully blessed son, Jemez D. Porter, who believed in my innocence from the beginning, who were very loving and supportive during my trials, tribulations, temptations, and tests, and who continue to display such affection. Your unwavering compassion and devotion will always be greatly appreciated. Also, I’m tremendously grateful to my brother, Alphonzo Williams, and to his soul mate, Maketha Thomas, for their devotedness and inspiration in completing this documentary. Still too, much gratitude to my dear friend, sister in CHRIST JESUS, and author of the inspiring book, Words from Awaki, the Third and Final Covenant, Dr. Bernetha George, for her irrefutable adoration and kindness over the years and the encouragement she gave me prior to and during the writing of this documentary. Furthermore, I’m indebted to Pastor Bobby Willoughby, Pastor Eulalia Willoughby, Pastor Carol Glover, Pastor Darrin Willoughby, Pastor Phyrn Willoughby, Mother Genevieve Mathews, and my brothers and sisters in CHRIST JESUS at Sought Out Redeemed Christian Ministry and at other ministries for their love, loyalty, and compassion.

INTRODUCTION

THANKS, PRAISE, HONOR, AND GLORY TO THE TRIUNE GOD

As I began the journey on June 20, 2007 and continue thereafter of documenting some of the horrific, shocking, but indisputable truths, I thank the TRIUNE GOD for propelling, guiding, and revealing to me through the HOLY SPIRIT these validated realities that I hope will serve as testimonies to encourage non-believers to repent and accept JESUS CHRIST as their LORD and personal SAVIOR, who strengthens Christians so that we are able to stand against the fiery darts of the adversary as a result of speaking truth to power. JESUS CHRIST is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE and no man can come to the LORD OF hosts but by HIM. Also, it is my desire that these testaments and supporting evidence will inspire believers in JESUS CHRIST to continue to surrender to the SPIRIT OF TRUTH’S galvanizing and shepherding us in growing in more obedience, faith, and trust in the TRIUNE GOD so that we can be more victorious, prosperous, and successful in our perseverance for verity, justice, and equality for all, regardless of any temporary setbacks or obstacles that we may be momentarily experiencing.

I must, also, give thanks, praise, honor, and glory to the TRIUNE GOD for the inspiration and guidance through the SPIRIT OF GOD in writing this non-fiction book because I know that, if it was up to my flesh alone to write this documentary, it wouldn’t be happening. Over the past ten years, I’ve had to do a massive amount of reading, interpreting, and writing as a result of being represented Pro Se in the vast majority of the various litigations I endured, which centered around my publicly exposing lead and/or asbestos poisoning in some of Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS). Thus, I thought I had done enough writing to last for at least another decade and, consequently, I had no desire to do any more scribing for quite a while. However, as I meditated on what projects I would undertake for the summer of 2007, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, the HOLY SPIRIT, stirred me up, laid it on my heart, and piloted me to begin composing this documentary as another means of continuing to crusade to end the horrific obstructions of justice by some of the powers that be who succeeded for many years to conceal the truth that other powers that be may have destroyed potentially thousands of lives by knowingly, willingly, negligently, and illegally exposing these individuals to lead poisoning since at least 1993.

I’ve been campaigning to end lead poisoning in BCPS since 1996 and to cease exposure to lead poisoning in Baltimore County Public Schools since my personal knowledge of lead in the drinking water at Old Court Middle School around 2003. Moreover, it’s been my plight to help educate individuals relevant to eliminating and/or reducing lead-based paint hazards as I continue to strive to halt lead poisoning in schools throughout America. I became more committed to terminating susceptibility to lead poisoning in the public schools since my training and accreditations in lead hazard evaluation and control and knowledge of the debilitating health effects that vulnerability to lead poisoning can have on our children’s ability to learn and, thus, maximize their educational experience and, ultimately, their success in life. Wherefore, as an accredited Lead Abatement Contractor, I can, unequivocally, state that unless the deteriorated, flaking, and peeling lead-based paint on the interior and/or exterior components of school buildings throughout the United States are abated or reduced, the proper protocols are in place to prevent the spread of millions of microscopic lead dust particles from escaping during the renovations of these deteriorating lead-based painted schools, all leaded pipes are removed and replaced with non-leaded pipes, all leaded solder that conjoins the pipes are removed and restored with non-leaded solder, and all leaded fixtures on the drinking fountains are supplanted with non-leaded fixtures, our leaders of tomorrow, employees, the construction workers, their families, and others will continue to be subjected to lead poisoning on a daily basis.

I’ve been able to gain a wealth of knowledge in the field of inspecting, identifying, reducing and/or eliminating lead-based paint hazards in properties as a result of being blessed to maintain for over thirteen years my accreditations as a Worker, Repainting and Maintenance Supervisor, Inspector Technician, Clearance Examiner, and Lead Abatement Service Contractor. Moreover, under the Code of Maryland Regulation (COMAR), namely, COMAR 26.16.01.18 (B) (1) (e), as an accredited Lead Abatement Service Contractor, I’m certified as a Recognized Lead Expert. Still too, as an accredited Lead Abatement Service Contractor and/or an Inspector Technician, I can expertly identify what constitutes a lead-based paint hazard, abate or reduce lead-based paint hazards, and inspect or test for lead-based paint.

As an accredited Clearance Examiner, I’m qualified to perform what is known as a clearance testing by collecting dust wipe samples from the floors, window sills, and/or window wells according to a specified formality and submitting them to a laboratory that is accredited by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The accredited EPA laboratory will determine if the lead levels from the dust samples taken from the windows sills, window wells, and floors are below EPA’S standards and, thus, would imply that the property passes the clearance testing and is safe for occupancy. According to the regulations in COMAR, once a property has been identified as having a lead-based paint hazard such as disintegrating lead-based painted components or excessive lead dust, the lead endangerment must be reduced or abated, a final clean-up should be completed, and an independent accredited Clearance Examiner should be hired to take dust wipe samples which will determine if the property is now safe from exposing individuals to lead poisoning. Residents should not be allowed to re-occupy the property until the owner of the property receives a certificate from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) stating that the property has passed the clearance testing and is, thereby, safe for re-occupancy.

As an accredited Inspector Technician, I have written a MDE-approved protocol and can, thus, properly collect samples of water that are, also, submitted to an EPA-accredited laboratory that will determine if individuals are consuming lead-tarnished drinking water. Furthermore, with the training and accreditations as an Inspector Technician and in other fields of lead hazard evaluation and control, I’m able to interpret and explain the lead inspection reports in the record of the various courts and elsewhere that uncloak how our children and others have been vulnerable to lead poisoning in some of the public schools in Baltimore City. And, although the powers that be appear to have made every effort to end my whistle blowing regarding exposure of such a potentially fatal toxic in the schools by horrifically lying and distorting the true facts, by wrongfully and illegally terminating my livelihood as a Mathematics teacher in the Baltimore City Public Schools System (BCPSS) after almost twenty years of service, and by attempting to defame, drive insane, and literally destroy me emotionally, the TRIUNE GOD has not allowed such wicked efforts to be successful.

In terms of the owners of the BCPS, initially, I presumed that the BCPSS and the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners (School Board) were the owners of the disintegrated and peeling lead-based painted components on the interior and/or exterior of the schools that I’ve identified as brandishing our children and others to lead and/or asbestos poisoning. But, during my civil litigation apropos to my Worker’s Compensation claim, the Mayor and City Council were the agencies under which I had to file my claim against regarding my injury on the job and with whom civil litigation was brought against, not the BCPSS or the School Board. Therefore, while the BCPSS and the School Board may be considered the custodians, the Mayor and City Council appear to be the real owners of BCPS.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) federal regulations for federally assisted housing, it is reasonable to assume that buildings built prior to 1950 have lead-based paint, and, therefore, major mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work performed in pre-1950 school buildings that disturb an enormous area of lead-based painted surfaces create millions of lead dust particles that can’t be seen by the naked eye but can cause severe lead poisoning if the leaded dust is not properly contained. Consequently, it is essential that an accredited Lead Abatement Contractor supervise the major renovations of these pre-1950 school buildings, as well as any schools built before 1978 which probably contain lead-based paint on the interior and/or exterior components of these facilities. The accredited Lead Abatement Contractor will be able to take such critical measures to ensure that his/her workers are trained and accredited and that the proper worker protective clothing, equipment, and other engineering and work related practices are in place to prevent the workers, their loved ones, and the occupants from being susceptible to lead poisoning. Still too, the accredited Lead Abatement Contractor will make sure that the work area is contained to prevent the spread of millions of tiny lead dust particles outside the work area and, also, supervise the project to assure that the workers are executing the major revamping in a manner that reduces the spread of these tremendous infinitesimal lead dust particles throughout the building.

As echoed indirectly in the voices of our ancestors in their struggle for freedom, justice, and equality and spoken so eloquently through the mouth of the humble, freedom-fighting, and inspiring saint of the TRINITY, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.[1] Hence, I know that I must continue to persevere for truth, righteousness, and justice in order to overturn the obstructions of justice that have been committed by the BCPSS, the School Board, the Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE), the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH), the federal Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), the Administrative Review Board (ARB), the majority Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (majority Fourth Circuit), the Supreme Court, and others. Thus, some critical and germane evidence will be revealed in this documentary which support the truth that by affirming the decision of the School Board to suspend me without pay and terminate my employment as a result of my legal whistle blowing and/or denying my petition for a re-hearing based on grounds for which petitions have been granted in the past, the judiciary branches of government, from the local court to the Supreme Court, as well as the judiciary branches in the administrative proceedings, have unmistakably committed an injustice toward me. An injustice toward one employee should be viewed as an inequity toward every employee who may find it necessary to whistle blow on his/her employer because of unsafe and unhealthy working conditions that do not get thoroughly addressed or resolved by the employer. Just as significant is the truth that by obstructing justice, the powers that be have aided in allowing lives to be continuously destroyed from any present or past exposure to lead poisoning and assisted in preventing those who have knowingly, willingly, negligently, and unlawfully unveiled individuals to lead poisoning from being held responsible and liable.

It is imperative that we do not lose sight of the true fact that a violation of one person’s rights under the law is a breach of a whole nation’s rights under the same law. Therefore, if injustices have been committed toward even one employee for whistle blowing by publicly unclothing lead and/or asbestos poisoning in some of the schools, then all employees throughout America should be in an uproar and righteously indignant because that one employee represents all employees whose rights have been transgressed under the same whistle blowers statutes and laws. Furthermore, statutes, laws, and regulations are only useful and effective if they are properly, fairly, and consistently enforced.

Employees can be subjected to various hazards in the work place and out of a genuine concern for the well being of all may bring the health and safety issues to their employers’ attention. However, the employers may continue to fail to rectify the perils and could attempt to terminate the employees for uncloaking the workplace violations publicly. Thus, Congress enacted the Whistleblower statutes and laws to protect employees from being discriminated against because of divulging health and safety hazards on their job. Still too, studies have shown that many employees have suffered occupational injuries from safety and health infractions in the work place. Accordingly, Congress legislated the Whistle blowers statutes and acts not only to shield workers from being intimidated by their employer for unclothing the hazardous working conditions but, also, to reduce occupational injuries.

As you will recognize throughout this documentary, I use the terms true facts or true findings and facts or findings. As I’ve noticed in the findings and/or Opinions from the BCPSS, the School Board, the MSBE, the ALJ, the ARB, the majority Fourth Circuit, and others, the use of the terms, fact or finding, often implies a statement made without supporting evidence. Wherefore, it is my desire to provide the evidence to corroborate the true facts or true findings. Thus, when the words, findings or facts are preceded by the words, true or truly in this non-fiction book, then there is irrefutable evidence in the record to support the findings or facts.

CHAPTER 1:

LEAD POISONING DOCUMENTED AT FAIRMOUNT-HARFORD HIGH SCHOOL IN 1996 AND 1997

When I returned to work as a Mathematics teacher at Fairmount-Harford High School (FHHS) for the 1996-1997 school year, I really did not know much about lead, lead-based paint, lead dust, or lead-tainted drinking water. For the most part, the only thing I was truly sure about is that the words lead and lead are spelled the same way. However, part of my training and accreditations in 1997 and thereafter in lead hazard evaluation and control include knowing the federal and state laws and regulations that define what is lead, what is lead-based paint and affected properties, what protocols are utilized to inspect a property for lead-based paint, how to properly peruse a facility for lead-based paint, and what constitutes a lead-based paint hazard that can expose individuals to lead poisoning. Further, my training and accreditation as a Lead Abatement Contractor indicate that I’m accredited as a Worker and Repainting and Maintenance Supervisor who can perform and supervise lead-hazard reductions. Also, as an accredited Lead Abatement contractor I know how to abate and/or reduce lead-based paint endangerments, and I’m cognizant of what gauges must be in place to ensure that the workers and occupants will be protected from being exposed to tremendously high levels of lead dust, lead poisoning, that are generated from major renovations of a lead-based painted property.

As an accredited Inspector Technician, I’m qualified to test a property for lead-based paint using an XRF analyzer. Moreover, as an accredited Inspector Technician, I’m, also, an accredited Clearance Examiner whose knowledgeable of what documentation is issued to property owners from MDE that indicates that a property has passed the clearance testing and is, thus, safe for re-occupancy.

In 1992, former President Bush and Congress passed a law called the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, which is known as Title X of the 1992 Housing Bill. Title X defines a lead-based paint hazard as chipping, flaking, peeling, or otherwise deteriorated lead-based paint, lead-based paint on friction, impact, and chewable surfaces, and excessive amounts of lead in surface dust and soil. Title X requires federal agencies to establish rules about working with lead and to enact regulations that reduce the amount of lead poisoning in this country. Three of these federal agencies are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the EPA, and HUD.

OSHA is a federal agency of the Department of Labor that writes and enforces rules in order to protect workers on the job. Under Title X, OSHA had to develop a standard about lead exposure on construction jobs. In response to this directive, the OSHA Lead in Construction Standard evolved. OSHA is, too, the agency that handles complaints of discrimination at the federal level from employees who blow the whistle and publicly disclose unsafe and unhealthy working conditions. Moreover, OSHA probes complaints of discrimination from employees who allege that a state agency failed to properly investigate their discrimination complaints against their employer. In Maryland, the state agency that is given the responsibility of examining complaints of discrimination against an employer by employees is MOSH.

The EPA is the federal agency that is in charge of protecting the air, water, and land from pollution. Also, EPA has some responsibility for the health of the public. Under Title X, EPA had to develop a plan to train and certify people who work with lead. EPA is amenable for defining exactly what condition constitutes a lead-based paint hazard and to study lead dangers associated with renovation, remodeling, and maintenance activities. Presently, EPA asserts hazardous lead-based paint as any lead-based paint on a friction surface that is subject to abrasion or impact, deteriorating lead-based paint, lead-based paint on chewable surfaces, and where the lead dust levels on the nearest horizontal surface below the friction surface are equal to or greater than the clearance dust hazard levels. As of the date of the publication of this documentary, the clearance benchmarks for lead dust, which is used to evaluate the effectiveness of cleaning following an abatement or reduction of lead-based paint hazards, are below 40 micrograms per square foot for floors, below 250 micrograms per square foot for window sills, and below 400 micrograms per square foot for window wells or troughs. Also, at the time of the writing of this documentary, EPA considers any lead in water that is above 15 parts per billion (ppb) to be an unsafe level of lead in the water. Moreover, under Title X, EPA is mandated to issue specific requirements for how individuals engaged in lead-based paint activities, such as contractors, workers, supervisors, inspectors, and risk assessors will be trained and certified in lead-based paint hazards. Still too, Title X obligated EPA to write guidelines on how contractors, maintenance workers, and others should conduct renovation and remodeling activities of target housing (houses built before 1978), public buildings constructed before 1978, and commercial buildings, which may create a risk of exposure to dangerous levels of lead. Title X, also, necessitated that EPA issue a model-state certification program to help states set up their own programs for abatement or reducing lead-based paint hazards. Consequently, a state may choose to adopt EPA’S model program or create its own model-state certification program. If a state decides to set up its own model program, minimally, the model must be as stringent as EPA’S.

MDE is the state agency in Maryland that has established its own model-state certification program. This model program ensures that individuals conducting lead-based paint inspections, risk assessments, and abatements in target housing and child-occupied facilities (such as day-care centers) are properly trained and certified and that training programs providing instruction in these activities are properly accredited.

Title X assigned HUD the responsibility for mortgage insurance, housing assistance, housing rehabilitation programs, public housing, federally supported private housing, and Indian housing. Also, under Title X, HUD was given the task to prepare guidelines for how people should work with lead and how a building should be inspected for lead. Still too, under Title X, HUD had to prepare regulations to mandate testing and control of lead-based paint hazards in housing that is owned by or receives assistance from the government. HUD is, too, authorized to administer a grant program to address lead-based paint threats in low-income housing. Further, HUD is accountable for establishing guidelines for lead-based paint hazard evaluation and reduction. These guidelines are to provide information on how to control lead-based paint risks in place and minimize the creation of lead hazards during routine maintenance work. In June of 1995, HUD developed the Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Lead-Based Paint Hazards in Housing (Guidelines). The most recent revision of the 1995 HUD Guidelines at the time of the writing of this documentary is only that of Chapter 7 which was completed in December of 1997. HUD’S guidelines are considered the most protective methods of lead abatement and interim controls for workers and the general public. When Lead Abatement Contractors are abating or reducing lead-based paint dangers, they must follow HUD’S guidelines or develop guidelines that are just as stringent as HUD’S.

Antecedently to my training and accreditations in lead hazard evaluation and control, I didn’t know that the major renovations that were being undertaken at FHHS without the proper protective protocols in place during the 1996-1997 school year and thereafter were releasing millions of infinitesimal lead dust particles into the air and, thus, exposing human vessels to lead poisoning severely. Under the Annotated Code of Maryland Environment, Title 6 Subtitle 8, Reduction of Lead Risk (&6-801), MDE defines an affected property as a property constructed before 1950. This building was erected in 1923 and is, therefore, an affected property. Again, federal regulations in HUD’S federally assisted housing presume the presence of lead-based paint on the interior and/or exterior components of any affected property and, therefore, testing for lead-based paint in such a facility is not necessary. Moreover, when the lead-based paint in an affected property is chipping, peeling, flaking, or otherwise deteriorated, such condition represents a lead-based paint hazard, which exposes individuals to lead poisoning. The evidence in the record, which includes the March 1997 video taping of portions of the interior of FHHS, substantiates that the proper containment practices were not in place to protect individuals from ingesting or inhaling tremendous lead dust during the major renovations. Also, as proven by the March 1997 video taping, there were lead-based paint hazards as determined by the chipping and peeling lead-based paint on the various interior components. Consequently, when school opened for the 1996-1997 school year, the staff, the workers, the pregnant adults, the pregnant teenagers, and the Morgan State head start children housed at FHHS were continuously being unmasked to lead poisoning from the lead-based paint imperilments that were present prior to the initiation of the major reconstructions, from the millions of infinitesimal lead dust particles generated from the uncontained mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work that disturbed significant lead-based painted surfaces during the summer of 1996, and from the major renovations that were being conducted while school was in session and without the proper protective standards in place to prevent tremendous micro-miniature lead dust particles from being spread throughout the school.

Almost on a daily basis during the 1996-1997 school year, upon entering FHHS and throughout the day, I was immediately greeted with layers of dust clouds from the renovations that were going on before the arrival of the staff and thereafter. Also, walking through the halls and sitting in some of the classrooms, one could not help but notice the dust lingering in the atmosphere and lead-based paint chips falling from the ceilings during the disturbance from the major refurbishing of these already lead hazardous components. Furthermore, millions of tiny lead dust particles were released from the workers hammering, drilling, and/or tearing lead-based painted components apart and removing them elsewhere. I was astounded, appalled, and often wanted to go home because I could not swallow that the faculty, the students, the head-start children, the pregnant adults, and the pregnant teenagers were being forced to be in such an environment that was certainly not conducive to learning and that appeared to be detrimental to our health and well being. I don’t know about my colleagues, but I was not given notice over the summer of 1996 that FHHS was in the process of undergoing an 18-month major amelioration and that the interior of the school would be in such disarray and in an environmentally dangerous condition; otherwise, I would have requested a transfer. Again, I must give thanks, praise, honor, and glory to the TRIUNE GOD, who through the HOLY SPIRIT, stirred me up and piloted me to read, study, and recognize, even before my training and accreditations, that individuals, especially those adults and teenagers that were pregnant and the head start babies, were not in a safe and healthy climate and needed to be removed from such a toxic surrounding. And, now, as one who has been trained and accredited by MDE in lead hazard evaluation and control for over 13 years as an Inspector Technician and Lead Abatement Contractor and, thus, has a well-trained eye in inspecting and identifying lead-based paint risks, I can expertly and unequivocally state that the disintegrated lead-based paint on the interior components of FHHS, a building that was erected in the 1920’s, did represent lead-based paint liabilities that exposed individuals to lead poisoning during the 1996-1997 school year. Furthermore, if the workers that were disturbing a vast amount of lead-based painted surfaces in undertaking the major renovations were not properly trained in how to work with lead-based painted components, then the workers, their family members, the occupants, and others were being subjected to more lead poisoning. Moreover, since the proper containments were not in place during the major modifications as evidenced by the March 1997 video taping, even more unclothing to lead poisoning was created from the millions of minute lead dust particles being released into the air and, ultimately, landing on various horizontal surfaces.

As my colleagues and I witnessed as we pulled up in the parking lot and entered FHHS for the first day back to work for the 1996-1997 school year, this building was having a dramatic facelift on the interior and exterior of it. Although we weren’t delighted with the construction equipment taking over some of the staff’s parking spaces, it appears that the faculty was more dissatisfied with the interior of the school having gliding dust clouds roaming the halls throughout the day, with experiencing a metallic taste in their mouths, with the dusty chairs, desks, and books, with paint chips falling continuously, with the overall dirtiness of the building, with the high level of noise being generated from the construction equipment, and with the long term health effects from the exposure to whatever was in the dust mass. Also, we were frustrated with having to endure the dust and clamor from the windows being replaced while we were in the classrooms and instruction was taking place. The truth of the matter is that the BCPSS knew prior to my whistle blowing through the media in November of 1996 that their own data gathered in September and October of 1996 unveiled millions of atomic lead dust particles on the floors, window sills, window wells, on the tops of lockers, and/or on other horizontal surfaces that were exposing lives to lead poisoning and that resulted from the on-going major refurbishing at FHHS that began during the summer of 1996.

Some time during the first week of the faculty’s return to work, the principal apprised us that we were going to have a staff meeting, that the contractors were going to talk to us relevant to the 18-month major renovations at FHHS, and that