New York state is accusing a Cayuga County school district of failing to properly test for lead at its schools.聽
According to 聽released Monday by聽New York state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, the Moravia Central School District failed to test or properly exempt 98 of its 303 water outlets for lead contamination during a late 2020 testing cycle. The district has conducted three cycles of testing since 2016, when the state began requiring lead testing at schools, DiNapoli said.聽
鈥淭his occurred because district officials did not have a sampling plan to identify all water outlets for sampling or exemption,鈥 he said in the report.
鈥淒istrict officials also did not have a remedial action plan that detailed which water outlets they exempted from sampling and how they would be secured against use.鈥
DiNapoli said that because those 98 outlets were not sampled, his office is unable to determine if the district took appropriate action to address any signs of lead contamination during that cycle. Of the 188 outlets that were sampled, his report continues, 33 (18%) had water above the lead action level of 15 parts per billion.聽(Seventeen outlets were properly exempted.)
The comptroller recommended the district develop an action plan for all water outlets that could be used for drinking and cooking; sample them and properly secure ones exempt from sampling; identify which outlets exceed the lead action level and remove them from service until they're safe or secured against use; and regularly update and maintain lead testing records for 10 years.聽
DiNapoli also said Moravia聽failed to post the results of the tests to its website until five weeks past the deadline, and that it did not report them to local health agencies, students or parents and guardians as required by law. For that, the comptroller recommended the district develop procedures to identify everyone involved in lead testing and reporting; notify all required parties by the deadline; and keep accurate records of all notifications.
The Moravia school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment by 水果派AV.
Zach Jaworski is a reporting intern with 水果派AV and . He can be reached at zach.jaworski@lee.net.