"How many DOE bureaucrats does it take to change a toxic light bulb?" demanded Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan), with no hint of irony. "Today, a lighting ballast in P.S./I.S. 123 in Harlem began emitting smoke and subsequently exploded, sending 11 people to the hospital, including students and teachers, who were sickened by the smoke and noxious fumes. The DOE's negligent failure to remove toxic lighting ballasts from New York City public schools is putting children's health in peril. This wait and see approach, where the DOE does nothing until a catastrophic ballast failure occurs, puts bottom lines above the health and well being of everyone in the school building."

This Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 10 am, Assemblymember Rosenthal will join with advocates and school community members at a news conference and rally in front of the P.S./I.S. 123, located at 301 West 140th Street, to demand immediate remediation at this school and of every public school building across the City with PCB lighting ballasts. Adding insult to injury, P.S./I.S. 123 is co-located with a Harlem Success Academy Charter School that has already removed all PCB-lighting ballasts from its portion of the school building.