Contaminated grounds close elementary school in East Chicago, Ind.
A week before classes are to resume, the East Chicago (Ind.) district is shutting down an elementary school because the grounds are contaminated with lead.
WBBM-TV reports that the last-minute closing of Carrie Gosch Elementary School is displacing an estimated 430 students. Superintendent Paige McNulty and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials told families Monday that soil on a part of the school grounds is contaminated with lead.
The Gosch school and the adjacent West Calumet Housing Complex are situated on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site—what used to be a lead refinery.
Officials told parents that the displaced Gosch students will be housed at West Side MIddle School.
The district could not say when remediation of the land will occur or when Gosch Elementary will reopen.
Video from WBBM-TV:
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Mike Kennedy
Senior Editor
Mike Kennedy has been writing about education for American School & University since 1999. He also has reported on schools and other topics for The Chicago Tribune, The Kansas City Star, The Kansas City Times and City News Bureau of Chicago. He is a graduate of Michigan State University.