SPOKANE, Wash. – Parents of Indian Trail Elementary School students were shocked to hear areas of their child’s school had elevated levels of lead, after the results of testing by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) at various elementary schools were released by Spokane Public Schools (SPS) last month.
“A little flabbergasted to say the least,” said Amber Goolie, mom to an incoming fifth grader who’s been going to Indian Trail for two years. “My kid drinks a lot of water–like three or four water bottles full a day while she’s at school–so I’m thinking, ‘how much lead has she ingested in the last two years?'”
SPS says DOH mandates schools built before 2016 to be tested for lead in the water every five years, adding that DOH requires the testing to be done when school is in session.
In a statement, an SPS spokesperson said mitigation measures are immediately put in place if any water fixtures come back with lead concentrations exceeding five parts per billion.
After receiving their test results, SPS said schools will immediately shut off water fountains if excessive lead amounts are found, or any water fixture with a lead concentration more than 15 parts per billion.
Staff will restrict water fixtures to “hand washing only” if the lead concentration is found to be between six and 14 parts per billion.
SPS said standard protocol will be to replace all water fixtures that test at six parts per billion or more, as parts and equipment are available.
Testing at Indian Trail was done on May 4, and found 19 fixtures out of the 60 tested had lead levels of six parts per billion or higher, four of those were double digits.
The two highest by a wide margin: a water bottle filler in the main building’s kitchen sink came back shing 56 parts per billion, and a sink tap in a main building classroom showing 43 parts per billion.
“They’re supposed to be remediating it, but I’m definitely not going to let my kid drink water from school next year,” Goolie said. “She’s going to be taking extra bottles of water with her.”
SPS said they’re following DOH guidelines to limit lead exposure in schools, but Goolie went to Indian Trail as a fifth grader herself years ago, “and It felt old then,” she said.
In fact, planning for a new Indian Trail school building was included in the school district’s $200 million bond proposal that was rejected by Spokane voters in February, the first SPS bond to fail since 1967.
“I hope that maybe it lights a fire in people in Spokane that didn’t want to vote yes for the bond,” Goolie said. “To give them more of a reason and understanding why it’s so important to get rid of the old schools, and keep our infrastructure up to take care of our children, for crying out loud.”
To view the full report on lead testing at Indian Trail Elementary, click here.
SPS says 12 schools have been tested so far–all of them elementary schools. To view the full list of schools, their testing results and mitigation plans, click here.
