BOSTON PublicFocusSchools on Children
Office of the Superintendent
Tommy Chang, Ed.D., Superintendent Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building th 2300 Washington Street, 5 Floor Roxbury, Massachusetts 02119 617-‐635-‐9050
[email protected] bostonpublicschools.org
August 16, 2016 Dear Boston Public Schools Community: I hope you are enjoying your summer and getting excited about the start of a new school year. The safety, health and well being of our students are always a top priority at the Boston Public Schools (BPS). We are committed to ensuring the best possible water quality by improving standards for our students and staff. That is why the district has drafted a comprehensive Water Policy to help ensure reliable access to safe drinking water in all of our schools. In accordance with that policy, which was adopted by the Boston School Committee on June 8, BPS hired an engineering consulting firm to retest the drinking water in the 30 school buildings that, as of this summer, had active water fountains. In addition, BPS conducted testing, across the district, of sinks in all school nurses’ offices and all food-preparation areas. BPS carried out the recent testing of active water fountains to help gather additional data following similar tests that were conducted at schools in April. The sampling of water fountains during the summer months, when most schools are not in session, allowed us to obtain the most conservative results — captured at a time when water remains dormant within largely unused pipes. According to the results of this summer’s testing, 24 school buildings were cleared as having no water fountains with lead levels above the acceptable threshold set by the Department of Environmental Protection. However, seven schools (in six school buildings) had at least one water fountain with lead concentrations that exceeded the federal action level of 15 parts per billion. These seven schools, like the other 24, all had acceptable lead levels when tested last spring. These new results, indicating higher levels, are likely due to testing conditions in the summer that did not reflect typical fountain usage during the school year. Nevertheless, out of an abundance of caution and following the policy mentioned above, we immediately deactivated all water fountains in these seven schools and replaced them with bottled water coolers. These schools include: the Patrick Lyndon K-8; Lee Academy; Josiah Quincy Elementary; Boston Latin School; F. Lyman Winship Elementary; and Jeremiah E. Burke High/Dearborn STEM Academy. Due to this most recent round of testing, we expect to enter the 2016-17 school year with 24 school buildings receiving drinking water from active water fountains (these schools are considered “online”) and 108 school buildings receiving bottled water (these schools are considered “offline.”) Our intent has been, and will continue to be, to take steps to ensure that all of our schools are online as soon as possible. We expect that many offline schools will be turned online during the course of the coming school year. You can view a list of schools’ water statuses on the BPS website at bostonpublicschools.org/water. Additionally, BPS took immediate action in cases where sinks in school nurse’s offices showed elevated levels by posting signs advising that the water is for washing only, and by ordering bottled water to be delivered to every nurse’s office.
Boston Public Schools Tommy Chang, Superintendent
Boston School Committee Michael D. O’Neill, Chair
City of Boston Martin J. Walsh, Mayor
BPS already had in place strict policies requiring cafeteria staff to flush all sinks each morning for two minutes before use to ensure lead levels are negligible, and in adherence to state and federal recommendations. The district is now taking an additional step of installing filters in food-service equipment, where applicable. BPS will continue to consult with health and water experts to develop a long-term solution that will ensure predictable and consistently low, or non-detectable, lead levels. We will work to further explore the use of filtering mechanisms, advance our knowledge of flushing protocols, and adopt best practices that could serve as a national model. We have heard from school districts across the country that are looking to learn from us as we take the lead in confronting what is a national issue of safe drinking water in schools. I would like to share with you a statement from Dr. Sean Palfrey, professor of pediatrics and public health at Boston Medical Center and the medical director of the Boston Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at the Boston Public Health Commission: “I have been impressed with how proactive and responsive the Boston Public Schools has been in keeping the water quality offered to its students as safe as possible. I feel comfortable that our children are being well protected. As I have stated publicly in May, the level of risk from lead exposure from drinking water in schools is extremely low, and virtually nonexistent where water lines are routinely flushed.” Thank you for your attention. We will continue to provide you updates on any new developments on this important matter. Sincerely,
Superintendent Tommy Chang
Boston Public Schools Tommy Chang, Superintendent
Boston School Committee Michael D. O’Neill, Chair
City of Boston Martin J. Walsh, Mayor
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