After another round of testing revealed stubbornly high rates of PCBs—a class of toxic chemicals—at Vermont’s North Country Union High, administrators are preparing to educate students in wedding tents this fall.
A state law passed in 2021 requires all schools, public or private, built or renovated before 1980 to test for the probable carcinogens. That’s 324 schools, according to the Agency of Natural Resources, which oversees the program.
Basically since its outset, school officials have complained about the program. While the tab, for now, is being picked up by the state, schools have worried they would eventually be saddled with mounting costs as funding set aside by the Legislature for the program quickly dwindles.
