[read complete report – pdf] [read complete 2025 report – pdf]
Purpose of Review
The purpose of our review was to assess the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District’s (District) progress, as of July 2026, in implementing our recommendations in the audit report Ravena-Coeymans-Selkrik Central School District – Lead Testing and Reporting (S9-25-7), released in July 2025.
The audit determined that District officials did not properly identify, report or implement needed remediation to reduce lead exposure in all potable water outlets as required by NYS Public Health Law and Department of Health (DOH) regulations. We determined 61 of the 322 (19 percent) water outlets we identified at select areas, that students, staff and the public may have access to and could consume water from, were not sampled or properly exempted by District officials for Cycle Two: January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 (extended to June 30, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). This occurred because District officials did not have a sampling plan to identify all water outlets for sampling or exemption. District officials also did not have a remedial action plan that detailed which water outlets they exempted from sampling, how they would be secured against use, and what remedial actions were planned or enacted. Because there is no information on the lead levels of the 61 water outlets not sampled for testing, we were unable to determine whether officials identified and remediated all water outlets that would have required it. Of the 288 water outlets the District sampled for Cycle Two testing, 22 water outlets exceeded the lead action level. We determined that 10 of these 22 outlets (45 percent) with actionable lead levels were still in service without a follow-up test showing they were now below the lead action level or effective controls to prevent them from being used. District officials reported these results to the DOH’s Health Electronic Response Data System (HERDS), the local health department, and staff, parents and guardians, as well as posted the results on the District’s website, as required. However, the HERDS reporting of test results were made after the required deadlines, ranging from eight to 13 days late.
The audit included seven recommendations to help the Board and District officials improve lead testing and reporting.
Background
The District serves the Towns of Bethlehem, Coeymans, and New Scotland in Albany County, and the Town of New Baltimore in Greene County. The District’s buildings are located on campuses in the Town of Coeymans (Village of Ravena) and in the Town of Bethlehem (Hamlet of Selkirk).
The District is governed by the elected nine-member Board. The Board is responsible for managing and controlling the District’s financial and educational affairs. The Superintendent is responsible, along with other administrative staff, for managing the District’s day-to-day operations under the Board’s direction. The Superintendent designated the Director as the person responsible for coordinating and reporting all lead testing in both Cycle Two. The District relies on the Director and a third-party Vendor they contract with for its lead testing program. The Vendor is responsible for water outlet inventory, sample collection (performed along with the Director), submitting samples to the laboratory, receiving test results from the laboratory and forwarding test results to the Director. The Director is responsible for providing the District with the testing results from the laboratory and any remedial actions for outlets that test above the lead action level.
Results of Review
We determined that the four recommendations related to sampling, testing and remediation procedures were only partially implemented and the three recommendations related to reporting test results were fully implemented. Because District officials have not implemented all recommendations, the remedial action plan remains incomplete, and effective controls were not provided or documented for all exempted water outlets or those exceeding the lead action level.