Lead, asbestos issues close three Pa. schools
Students at three Pennsylvania schools were told to stay home Thursday amid concerns over lead and asbestos contamination, as Pennsylvania State Police investigate what former district officials did to address problems with tainted water.
One day after Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled a $1.1 billion plan to help Pennsylvania’s public schools remediate lead and asbestos, crews in the Scranton School District were conducting air quality tests and making emergency repairs.
“All of these things are alarming and upsetting to parents and staff and we want to be as communicative as possible,” said Katie Gilmartin, president of the Scranton School Board.
Wolf’s proposal would expand an existing grant program to make money available for lead and asbestos removal in Pennsylvania schools, though its prospects for passage in the Republican-controlled Legislature are unclear.
School districts statewide have been grappling with how to address environmental hazards in aging school buildings. Asbestos is a known carcinogen, while lead can cause lifelong brain damage and other injuries, especially in children.
A 2018 state law encourages schools to test for lead in drinking water annually, though it does not mandate testing, and the state Department of Education does not track how many districts have tested. Schools that find high levels of lead are required to notify the state and act immediately to prevent people from drinking contaminated water.
As of the end of November, testing had revealed excess lead concentrations in more than 100 buildings in more than 30 school districts, vocational-technical and charter schools, and other public education buildings statewide.
In Scranton, district officials announced high lead levels at 38 sinks and water fountains in several schools, including at least one of the schools closed Thursday.
“They were supposed to fix this years ago and they haven’t. So now we’re dealing with the mess and the cleanup and once again, the kids are the ones that suffer,” Barbara Richter, whose grandchildren attend two of the schools that were closed, told WNEPTV.
An environmental engineer said he first notified district officials in 2016 that he had found elevated lead levels in drinking water. Joseph Guzek said that when he returned in December 2018 and again in December 2019, he also found lead in the water.