Dear Parents, Grandparents and Guardians of Ark and Dove children,
In May of 2017, Governor Hogan signed a bill that requires public schools in Maryland to test the water for lead. All sources of water, be they water fountains, sinks, cafeteria sources or spigots are to be tested. I have learned through our work with IAF that only 33 schools in Anne Arundel have been tested, and 19 of those schools tested positive for lead. Those schools have had the situations corrected. You can check this
SITE, but to my knowledge, no schools in West County have been tested.
Yesterday our IAF (which may well be called AACT,
Anne Arundel Connecting Together -- September 13 vote pending) "ran an action" on Superintendent Arlotto requesting him to speed up the schedule for the testing of water. Here is what Dr. Arlotto agreed to:
1) Ensure that letters are sent to parents/guardians at schools, which have not yet been tested, to let them know (before school begins), that students may bring their own water bottles, if the schools cannot ensure or provide safe drinking water.
2) Encourage, or direct, officials in untested schools to work with their parents/guardians who cannot afford to provide their children with bottled water.
3) Get in touch with Montgomery County to see how their testing was accelerated.
4) Inform us of the number of public schools that are OSHA certified as lead free.
It turns out that Montgomery county managed to get all 200 of their schools tested last April/May.
My opinion is that your children should bring water bottles to school with them until you know that the water in your child's school is safe, and that you should check in with your principal and your PTA. I am sending this today because the
Arkive goes out on Friday and that would leave little or no time for you to check out your school's policy.
I am grateful that the Education Research Action Team uncovered and acted upon this situation, and that I, as co-chair (of what will likely be called AACT), was able to accompany them on the visit to Dr. Arlotto. We can see that our support of AACT, as a church, is already making a difference in the lives of our families.
Peace of Christ,
Tim
timsstern@gmail.com
