Thursday, June 9, 2016

Elevated lead levels detected in 12 Chicago Public Schools





(FILE) Water flows from a drinking fountain. (Jim Cole)




Wednesday, June 08, 2016 10:44PM
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Elevated lead levels have been detected in a dozen Chicago Public Schools, the district said Wednesday.

Last month, CPS said it planned to expand its lead testing program after it found elevated levels at Tanner Elementary School.

So far, CPS says 156 of the 324 schools built before 1986 with pre-K programs have been tested.

Results at 58 schools have been returned. The district is still waiting on results from hundreds of others.

CPS released a list of the 12 schools that had at least one water fountain or fixture with lead levels above the EPA action level of more than 15 ppb:
Beidler (1 sink)
Brentano (1 drinking fountain and 1 sink for handwashing in kitchen)
Budlong (1 sink)
Esmond (1 drinking fountain)
Fernwood (2 drinking fountains)
Harvard (1 drinking fountain)
LaSalle II (1 sink)
Locke J (1 sink)
Peirce (1 drinking fountain)
Perez (1 drinking fountain)
Reilly (being retested)
Tanner (4 drinking fountains)

More information is available at cps.edu/leadtesting.