Fulton County could do air quality testing at Atlanta schools to check for harmful emissions of ethylene oxide.
County officials expressed a willingness to perform the testing during a joint meeting Wednesday of the board of commissioners and the Atlanta school board.
The call for testing follows concerns about health risks from emissions from a medical sterilization facility in Cobb County. The area of concern includes parts of Fulton County where there are several Atlanta schools.
School board member Nancy Meister, who represents District 4 in north Atlanta, called for testing at school sites such as Morris Brandon and Bolton Academy.
“I do think that it’s a big issue, and it’s not just Cobb County,” she said. “I think we need to be taking it extremely seriously.”
Fulton County Commissioner Lee Morris told school board members the county should look at how it can assist with that effort.
Fellow commissioner Marvin Arrington, Jr. said the testing should be expanded to include the county’s own facilities.
County officials said they’ll need to make sure their efforts are coordinated with the state.
Earlier this month, the state Environmental Protection Division announced it would begin collecting samples after concerns continued to mount about health risks.
The city of Smyrna, city of Atlanta and Cobb County also have said they will pay for air sampling.
Atlanta school board chairman Jason Esteves, who earlier asked a federal agency to evaluate the potential health risks linked to emissions from the Sterigenics facility, said the school district would "greatly" appreciate Fulton County's assistance.
“It is very important for the county and all the entities within the county to have a position on what’s going on and for us to ensure that our testing lines up with what’s going on in Cobb and Smyrna,” he said.
The school board and county commissioners met during a two-hour special session in which officials discussed several items of mutual interest, including property tax collections, development incentives and ways the two can partner together.
County commissioners could discuss testing again at a Sept. 4 meeting.
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