BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — Parents confronted a Butler County school board with concerns over the revelations made about high lead levels in the drinking water.
Summit Township Elementary School parents pressed the Butler Area School District board for answers after they say the school failed to notify them about high lead levels found in their children’s drinking water.
Parent: “Seems like you dropped the ball, Mr. Lumley.”
Superintendent: “…That's the mistake that I made.”
According to the letter sent home to parents, elevated lead readings from the well on school property were first detected in September by a maintenance supervisor who was working with the Department of Environmental Protection to address the test results of water in the building.
“I was extremely disappointed in the district for lying to us. For putting us in a position where they knew for so many months, yet they knowingly poisoned our children,” a parent said. \
The Superintendent Dale Lumley said the results were not shared with him or the board until last week. However, at Monday’s school board meeting, board member Bille Halle asked Lumley about an email correspondence between the two – where the concern of high lead levels was discussed.
“I obviously knew there was a high reading, but I didn't know what that meant,” said Lumley.
Classes are cancelled at Summit Township Elementary School only for Tuesday and Wednesday.
District leaders said they’re working with the Department of Environmental Protection, a water testing company and health and water purification consultants to try to fix the problem.