Portland District Failed to Disclose Excessive Lead Levels at 47 School Buildings

[HuckleB]

"Last week, Portlanders learned the Portland Public Schools had found elevated levels of lead in water at two schools in March, but failed to disclose this information for nearly two months.

In the past few days, WW has learned and confirmed that PPS did tests across the district from 2010 to 2012—at 90 buildings—finding elevated levels of lead in the water at 47 of them, including Jefferson and Cleveland high schools and Ainsworth Elementary School. In some cases, the levels were higher than those found at Creston and Rose City Park, the schools that were named last week.

This highly charged finding comes from a printout WW received from a district database of all water testing from 2001 through February 2015. The printout shows that 47 structures—schools, office buildings and others—tested for levels of lead from 2010 to 2012 that were above the federal standard of 15 parts per billion.

As extraordinary as these findings are, WW could not find anyone at PPS who says they knew of the testing, or the results, prior to learning of them from WW last Friday. Nor is it clear what was done in response to the tests.

..."

Read more: http://www.wweek.com/news/2016/05/31/portland-district-failed-to-disclose-excessive-lead-levels-at-47-school-buildings/

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This district's leadership has failed at every turn for years. This is disgusting, and yet the Superintendent who cannot build a decent organization is passing the buck again.

[gratuitous]

1. This is a serious breach of public trust

And I think the superintendent should resign. That being said, though, informed medical opinion is that while the lead exposure was elevated, it wasn't in a range that will have any deleterious effects on students. Get a new superintendent of schools, fix the problem, and tell the taxpaying public that part of the problem here is the chronic underfunding of schools going back several decades in Oregon.

[HuckleB]

2. The kids are probably ok, but that may not be the story elsewhere.

It's unlikely that this is the only district in the country with this problem.

Still, even in Portland, some of the levels were fairly high.

See the original document here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wapopartners.com/wweek-wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/01012139/All-Schools-Water-Test-Results.pdf

Yes, this is only the latest example of the lack of management protocol at the district. The superintendent needs to go now.

[HuckleB]

3. AP Story In NYT: Portland Parents Decry Officials Over Lead at 2 Schools

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/06/01/us/ap-us-portland-schools-lead.html?_r=0

"Parents sometimes shouted as they criticized officials over high amounts of lead in drinking water at two Portland schools, while the head of the district promised an independent investigation into the contamination.

Some parents grilled a panel of Portland Public Schools administrators and government water officials after tests in March revealed elevated levels of lead in 14 of 92 water sources at Creston K-8 School and the Rose City Park School. They faulted school officials for failing to warn people not to drink the water and follow through on previous signs of problems.

"I have a third-grader who's been drinking from the fountain with the highest lead level all year, and last year and the year before was drinking from one of the other ones," parent Judy Burke said. "So for three years of his 9-year-old life has been drinking this water."

The district said it will provide bottled drinking water for students and staff at all its schools through the end of the school year, until tested can be done this summer, which happens every 15 years. The district placed bags over water fountains at all schools Friday, Superintendent Carole Smith said.

..."