11 Investigates: How high lead levels in water at Butler elementary school came to light

BUTLER, Pa. — A new Butler Area School District board member who pushed for answers, eventually revealing high lead levels in the water supply at Summit Township Elementary School, spoke to Channel 11 News Thursday about how the issue was exposed.

Leland Clark said he kept hearing the same story from parents.

“Parents saying the water tested like blood, tasted tinny,” he said.

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Clark said he knew that the water fountains at the elementary school were shut down for a few days in September, but district administrators assured him that the school’s water supply was fine.

He said questions remained, so he requested the Department of Environmental Protection’s water test results, as well as emails between the DEP and the district. Clark said that when he got the documents in January, he was astounded by the results from August, which had been kept from parents and the public.

According to Clark, the report from August uncovered high lead levels, some five times higher than DEP standards, in the drinking water supply. Channel 11 News was investigating the issue at the same time as Clark and broke the news to parents before the district on Jan. 20.

Channel 11’s Amy Marcinkiewicz reported on the tainted water, and within days, the elementary school was closed, and within weeks, three key district officials resigned, including the superintendent. The district attorney has since launched an investigation.

An internal investigation was also conducted and revealed possible misconduct, including unauthorized access to the district’s email system, unauthorized use of emails and the deletion of emails.

Clark said he believes major mistakes were made, and he’s glad he dug deeper to expose the truth.

The latest testing conducted at Summit Township Elementary School on Feb. 16 still showed high lead levels in the water. Students continue to report to Broad Street Elementary School for classes.

Cox Media Group