Posted on a fence along Herricks Road outside the Tutor Time building that had been a subject of testing because of its location being next to the Jackson Steel Superfund Site are two signs saying that the property is available from Smith & DeGroat Realty and Island Associates Real Estate, Inc.

Tutor Time, a daycare facility, had decided to close its doors in April amid controversy surrounding possible danger children and employees were exposed to. The Nassau County Department of Health tested the air inside the Tutor Time, 80 Herricks Road, and found elevated levels of tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a manufactured chemical often used in the dry cleaning of fabrics, in November and December 2001.

After the levels were discovered, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated a new filtration and ventilation system to be installed in the building. The measures reduced the levels of PCE. In addition to the air, the EPA also sampled the tap water and outdoor playground wood chips and soil. The tap water did not reveal any contaminants above federal and state drinking water standards. In the outdoor playground, no PCE was detected in the wood chips or in the surface soils. However, very low levels of PCE were found in a soil sample taken eight inches below the ground's surface, according to information released by the EPA in May.

However, some parents of children who were attending Tutor Time believe there is a connection between its location and health problems their children developed. It is not known how long the air quality problems existed in Tutor Time before measures were taken in January.

The EPA declared Jackson Steel a Superfund Site in 1999. It ceased operation in 1991. According to the EPA, a Superfund site is any land in the United States that has been contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as a candidate for cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment.

- Joe Rizza