The principal of a contaminated elementary school along Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal shamelessly told parents that she’s sometimes too busy to relay critical information about the toxic air filling the school.
Principal Rosa Amato, who’s been in charge of PS 372 since 2015 and rakes in over $200,000 annually, made the tone-deaf remark at a virtual town hall meeting Monday night, where roughly 80 fearful parents and community members questioned the air safety of the school’s annex at 219 First St.
One parent asked in the Zoom’s chat why it took so long for letters that the Department of Environmental Conservation sent to the school to make their way to parents, referencing a February letter that wasn’t sent out until over a week later.
“Yes, one week seems like a long time. But sometimes I am way too busy and miss things,” Amato replied.
Parents found out this summer that mitigation efforts that began in 2024 at the annex — where the school’s pre-K and kindergarten classrooms are located — were unsuccessful. While the state insists that levels of dangerous chemicals, including cancer-causing benzene and xylene, have been reduced to a “normal” indoor range, families and experts aren’t convinced, and are calling for total removal of the polluted soil underneath the building.
Dan Tucholski from the Health Department and Aaron Fischer from Department of Conservation – the two state agencies handling mitigation efforts – also attended the meeting and answered cherry-picked questions, but parents found Amato’s response especially frustrating.
“I was offended by Principal Rosa saying she was too busy to communicate properly and sometimes misses things. We’ve had two years of mitigation failure and it has been RIDICULOUS,” one parent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, wrote to The Post.
School parents, who started a petition calling for Gov. Kathy Hochul to resign over her botched handling of the situation, said they’ve been left in the dark. Their concerns for their children’s health have been ignored.
They said they received information during holidays or breaks – times when families aren’t checking their emails – often weeks after the school itself had been notified.
“Amato is a terrible communicator,” one parent, whose kids are going into the first and fifth grades, said.
Another mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claims that each year, she personally pays for proper high-efficiency particulate air filters in the classrooms.
“I was petitioning a company to help donate and Principal Amato did not show up for the meeting,” she wrote.
“I don’t care about having to contribute $ for the machines, but I don’t think it should be a single parent in the class’ responsibility, and without clear direction from agencies.”
Amato has a damning reputation for brushing off parental worries, according to online testimonies.
“Principal Rosa Amato sets the tone for how concerns are handled, and repeatedly, that tone is dismissive rather than supportive. Difficult conversations are deflected,” one parent wrote on school rating platform Inside Schools about seven months ago.
At least six parents told The Post that they’re pulling their kids from the school of roughly 450 students because of the toxic air. Eight others said they considered it.
“We love PS 372, it’s a fantastic school but with no clear view of when the vapors will be mitigated, it feels impossible to keep our youngest enrolled…. If he gets sick from the vapor, how do we explain that we ignored our instincts to protect him?” asked Claire Graves, who is removing her kindergartener from the school.
The DEC and DOH said they are working to protect the health of students and staff at the school. Officials will begin installing more ventilation before the start of the school year, according to the DEC.
Amato and the DOE did not return requests for comment.
