Overview
- Officials announced after a Thursday town hall that indoor and outdoor air tests show no evidence of PCE vapor intrusion into Kennedy High’s main buildings, allowing the campus to reopen for the first day of school.
- Preliminary soil samples had detected tetrachloroethylene (PCE) beneath the campus during renovation work, which prompted the district to close the school for investigation.
- State scientists and the district found trace PCE in the metal/welding shop and the kitchen and say those detections are likely from consumer or work-related products inside the rooms, not from the subsurface plume.
- The district will keep the two rooms closed, use a mobile kitchen and continue sampling, air filtration and targeted mitigation while the Department of Toxic Substances Control investigates the plume’s source and movement.
- Richmond has a history of industrial contamination, officials used conservative residential exposure limits to assess risk, and families were told there is no evidence of vapor intrusion into nearby homes.