NAACP calls for more soil testing at Williams Elementary in Gainesville

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -Members of the NAACP say they want more testing done to see if Williams Elementary in southeast Gainesville is sitting on contaminated soil.

At an NAACP board meeting, representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection and Alachua County Health Department tried to answer questions.

A representative from the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department addressed residents concerned about potential toxins near Williams Elementary and Lincoln Middle School.

“Reports are showing that there’s still some materials in the soil, and that is why we continue to monitor the air quality inside the school and outside the school as well,” the representative said.

In 2017, heating oil tanks underneath the elementary school were leaking. They were then removed along with a large amount of soil.

NAACP President Evelyn Foxx is worried that contaminated soil from an old nearby landfill, which served as a community dump and sat behind both schools, remains.

“My great-grandbaby goes there, and certainly if something’s wrong with it, we want to know. My great-grandson is autistic, and he doesn’t need any other problems, so if that is the case, we don’t need to have him there,” Foxx said.

The landfill shut down in the mid-1960s.

Alachua County Health Department officials say they are currently testing again, but they haven’t in four years because their findings showed there would be no increased health problems.

These concerns come as Alachua County School Board members voted to close the elementary school in 2028 and rebuild it as part of a new Lincoln K-8 campus.

Members of the NAACP want to track down more records and push for more testing to be done.

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