A day after the Tacoma (Wash.) district disclosed that two schools were found to have extremely high levels of lead in their water, officials revealed that tests at four more schools showed high lead levels.
Meanwhile, the district’s safety and environmental health manager, who is responsible for monitoring test results, apparently failed to report the excessive readings to district administrators, and has been placed on paid administrative leave.
The Tacoma News-Tribune reports that the district has alerted parents of students at Whittier, DeLong and Manitou Park elementary schools and in the Madison Head Start program that tests performed in 2015 showed high lead levels in isolated area of those schools.
Tuesday’s announcement comes the day after the district released results from May 2015 tests that found extremely high lead levels at Mann and Reed elementary schools.
Those tests had been overlooked for nearly a year until recent reports of water problems in the city and a request from The News Tribune prompted the district to review last year’s testing results.
Affected water outlets at the schools in question have been blocked off, and school officials have arranged for bottled water to be brought it for students and and staff members.
The district says it will continue testing water at every school, a process that could take several weeks to complete.
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