At the DC Public Charter School Board, we consider the health and safety of our students to be our foremost priority. That is why earlier this spring we asked all public charter schools to provide documentation of recent lead testing results. If the school lacked the documentation, we paid for the testing out of our operating budget.
The results of the testing so far were quite positive as most schools found no elevated levels of lead. However, nine DC public charter schools found elevated lead levels at one or two of the many water sources in their buildings: DC Prep PCS - Benning Elementary; Howard University Middle School of Math and Science PCS; Maya Angelou PCHS; Kingsman PCS; Latin American Montessori Bilingual PCS; E. L. Haynes PCS - Middle; Harmony PCS; Somerset Prep PCS; and Washington Yu Ying PCS.
Each of these nine took immediate steps to protect their children and staff by shutting off the water sources that tested too high in lead and by substituting alternate water sources. These nine schools are being retested, and we are waiting on the results. The schools will then remediate the situation, most likely by installing filters on the specific water sources that tested high for lead.
As of this date, test results for 71 of our 114 schools are in. We are still awaiting results from the remaining schools. We will also provide a detailed report at the DC Council at the June hearing. We are asking affected public charter schools to notify families immediately if they have not already done so.
We will continue to post updates here.
Earlier this spring, we asked all public charter schools to provide documentation of recent lead testing results.