Brooklyn school principal admits she often misses critical air-quality alerts for parents

At a virtual town hall for PS 372, principal Rosa Amato admitted that she sometimes misses the chance to forward critical updates about the contaminated air in the school’s annex. Parents questioned why a February letter from the Department of Environmental Conservation was not sent to them until more than a week later, and Amato responded that her busy schedule caused the delay. The annex, which houses pre-K and kindergarten classes, has undergone mitigation since 2024, yet families and experts doubt the state’s claim that benzene and xylene levels are now normal.

Representatives from the Health Department and the Conservation Department fielded selected queries, but many parents found Amato’s explanation unsatisfactory. Several families have withdrawn their children from the roughly 450-student school, and a petition urges Governor Kathy Hochul to resign over the handling of the situation. The state says additional ventilation will be installed before the next school year.