Great American Helps Out Ohio School
As a parent, the one place–outside of my home–where I expect my children to be safe is at school. That expectation recently took a big hit, when unacceptable levels of lead were found in the soil on the grounds of my daughters school.
She is a sophomore at Kings High School in Kings Mills, Ohio (right next door to the Kings Island Amusement Park). Kings Mills and everything "King" in the Warren County, Ohio, area are named for the King family. The King family owned and operated an ammunition factory in the area. The very site where the High School and Jr. High sit was the location of a gun club. In fact, the gun club was located there from the late 1890s until the early 1960s, Charles Mason, King Superintendant told National Underwriter.
He reported that during a study of the Peters Cartridge Plant (the King family ammunition factory) by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, old aerial photographs revealed the existence of the gun club on the site now occupied by Kings Jr. and Sr. High Schools. The Ohio EPA then called Mr. Mason, who immediately ordered that the soil be tested for lead contamination, he said.
Initially, 10 samples were taken. Of those 10, eight came back under the acceptable level as set by the Ohio Department of Health, 400 parts per million (ppm). Of the other two samples, one was just barely over the 400 ppm limit, but one that came from an area by the bleachers in the football stadium had a lead concentration of 53,000 ppm.
At that point, Mr. Mason said he closed all unpaved areas around the schools and arranged to have them tested for lead. (Lead under a paved area such as a parking lot or under a building does not present any health concerns.) This testing consisted of 150 samples, taken from various areas around the school. Of these 150, 17 came back at over 400 ppm. The areas included the football/soccer/lacrosse field and the baseball diamond.
After seeing those results, Mr. Mason had to order that no activity take place on these fields, until the soil is decontaminated–a process that may take a long time, as liability, responsibility and ability to pay must all be sorted out. But that still left the problem of where the Kings football and soccer teams would play their home games this year. Matthew Koenig, Kings Athletic Director, immediately began searching for a place to play.
Right across the street from Kings High School is the former location of the National Football Foundations College Football Hall of Fame. Because it never attained the attendance levels initially expected, the Hall of Fame was moved several years ago to South Bend, Ind. However, the site still contains a very nice building and football stadium–Galbreath Field–all owned by Great American Insurance.
Because of its proximity to Kings High School, Mr. Koenig immediately thought of Galbreath Field. He called the management company that runs Galbreath Field and got the ball rolling. In very short order, the management company, with the approval of Great American, and Mr. Koenig had worked out the details so that Kings could play their home football and soccer games at Galbreath Field.
On September 13, Kings was also allowed to hold its marching band competition at Galbreath Field. That event brought in 25 high school bands, and with them many spectators. In fact, 2,000 tickets were sold for the event.
But heres the best part, and one that I as a parent and taxpayer really appreciate: Great American is generously allowing Kings to use the facility for free, with the exception of paying for any utilities used, according to Mr. Koenig. In addition, Great American asked that the district do the following:
Fix some of the bleachers that were broken.
Clean up the field after use and keep it maintained while the district is using it.
The cleanup of the lead in the soil at Kings High School may require a long time to complete. According to Mr. Mason, "Were on hold now." On hold as to the amount of contamination, the cleanup process, and who will pay for it. The district is even on hold about next years football and soccer seasons.
But, thanks to the generosity of Great American, Kings High School is not on hold about this years football and soccer seasons.
(Michael K. McCracken, CPCU, ASLI is Associate Editor of FC&S, published by the National Underwriter Company in Erlanger, Kentucky. He may be contacted at (859) 692-228 or fc&s@nuco.com)
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, September 26, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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