Today you can't stick your head in the sand. Today, a new school requires scores of environmental tests, public hearings, archaeological studies, inspections and approval by state officials, said Barbara Boardman, project manager of the office of facilities planning for the New York State Education Department. The ground the new Southside was built on was almost surrounded by manufacturing companies said John Keefe, an Elmira City Council member from 1979 to 1980 who opposed construction of a new school and favored expanding the old school to preserve the local tax base. When Southside High School was built, Keefe said, a number of industrial facilities had been located or were in operation within six blocks of the high school site. These facilities were Chemung Foundry, the Pennsylvania Railroad car shops, American LaFrance and Remington Rand.
Hare is a teacher at the school.
It seems to me that somebody was not seeing those flags. Hare was among a group of officials and parents who three weeks ago asked the Elmira school board to investigate the possible link of 13 known cancer cases among current or former students to the campus' environmental past. Hare said that he doesn't want to point fingers. And consciousness of the environment today is lot different than it was 20 years ago. Meanwhile, state environmental regulators say the oil that was found several years ago to be seeping from the campus into local waterways is being cleaned up and isn't a health hazard.