Exclusive | Shameless NYC principal of Gowanus Canal school admits shes too busy to tell parents about toxic air

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.

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