Sonoma Co. school district waits for answers after two lead scares
HEALDSBURG, Calif. (KGO) -- The second lead scare in a week has a Sonoma County school district waiting for answers and parents worried about their children.
Days after tests for lead at Healdsburg Elementary proved to be a false alarm, new tests show problems at Healdsburg Junior High, not far away.
The water is off again. "There is no protocol, no checklist for how to deal with a situation like this," Healdsburg school superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel said.
For a second time in two weeks, they are testing the water on a campus for fear of lead contamination.
"We are not hiding anything. We trying to get out in front of it and make sure our kids are safe," he said.
It's Healdsburg Junior High this time, where the pipes are pushing 100 years old in places.
RELATED: 2nd school in Healdsburg shuts off water over fears of lead contamination
Hence the test followed by a preliminary warning, which has led to importing water and taking any food preparation off campus.
Parents are pleased with how the district has handled this so far.
"I think we will be dealing with it more and more. I mean you got older homes, you got aging infrastructure. It's not just going to be a Healdsburg school problem," parent Dana Grande said.
This is also a Sonoma County Health problem. The agency ran more tests Friday morning. We won't know the results until next week.
"Lead in water does not necessarily mean that their child has lead poisoning. It is all going to be about how much water that they consumed and whether or not that lead has reached a threshold that could cause problems with them," Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Milman said.
The district hopes such questions will never need answering. In Healdsburg, everyone has a stake in this, even the superintendent.
He has a child attending class in the district, too.
"You just want to take very extreme precaution and treat your students as your would treat own kids," Vanden Heuvel said.
Click here for more information about lead.
