A letter from Superintendent James Grossane went out to the Parents of teenagers from both Smithtown High School East and West, regarding traces of legionella bacteria found in the cooling towers at both high schools. In an effort to be proactive after news of the recent outbreak of legionellosis in the Bronx, the New York State Board of Education required all schools to take emergency measures to test, inspect and certify cooling towers. Smithtown School Officials immediately inspected the systems and collected culture samples. Shortly after discovering concentrations of the Legionella bacteria, the cooling towers were taken offline for disinfection and decontamination by a licenced professional.
Further testing was done to assure the cooling towers, which come into contact with the schools’ water systems, did not contaminate drinking water in any way. The Superintendent reassured parents that they would continue to be vigilant in the treatment and monitoring of the cooling towers, even after clearing all traces of the bacteria.
“In addition, the district has voluntarily chosen to perform a complete offline system decontamination, which includes an additional chlorine treatment, a system drain and flush, manual surface cleaning, refilling with treated water and re-establishing treatment. Follow-up monitoring will be performed in accordance with the new regulation, which does include retesting as verification of the treatment.” – Superintendent James Grossane
Grossane added that any and all traces of the Legionella bacteria were isolated to the towers and that did not contaminate the schools water supplies. There have been zero reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease at either school.