Shelby County Schools (SCS), as well as other school districts in Tennessee, are required by law to conduct biennial lead water testing at its schools to ensure all water sources meet federal and state guidelines. SCS last tested its water sources in 2019. The latest round of testing was conducted during the 2021 winter break with the District recently receiving results.   

BACKGROUND AND REMEDIATION

• All SCS drinking water sources have remained offline throughout the pandemic.
• The District's full remediation plan is in progress; however, SCS reprioritized phases of implementation due to the impact of COVID-19 and supply chain shipment delays.
• Attached is the remediation plan and presentation shared last spring with the Board and County Commission.
• The Board and Administration have allocated ESSER (COVID-19 relief) funding to implement a remediation plan that includes replacing all drinking water sources (in progress) and installing water bottle filling stations.

Watch: SCS Installs Water Bottle Filling Stations

2021 TESTING RESULTS

Down from 35 schools in 2019, the 12 schools referenced below were found to have one or more water sources with lead level test results equal to or exceeding twenty parts per billion (20 ppb), an event which prompts immediate corrective action and mandatory reporting to specific state and local agencies, as well as parents and guardians of students enrolled at these schools:

·   White Station High School

·   White Station Middle School

·   Keystone Elementary School

·   Northaven Elementary

·   Woodstock Middle School

·   Hamilton Middle School

·   Sheffield Elementary School

·   Southwest Career and Technical School

·   Hanley Pre-K

·   Raleigh-Bartlett Meadows Elementary School

·   Fairview/Middle College/Maxine Smith STEAM

·   Raineswood Residential Training Center

NOTIFICATIONS & COMMUNICATION

• Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE)
• Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
• Tennessee Department of Health
• Shelby County Health Department (SCHD)
• Shelby County School Board
• SCS met with all 12 school leaders to discuss the results and notified parents/guardians. 
• Click here to review the lead level water testing results which are also posted online. 

CORRECTIVE ACTION

• For any water sources with elevated levels, the District's full remediation plan is in progress, however it is also important to note that all SCS drinking water sources have remained offline throughout the pandemic. 
• All affected drinking water sources will remain unavailable for use until subsequent retesting confirms the lead level of water from those sources no longer exceed twenty parts per billion (20 ppb). 
•  The District has committed to replacing all drinking fountains in schools with bottle filling stations that feature new filtration systems. 
• Operations expects to have them installed in all schools by January 31. This initiative is made possible through ESSER COVID-19 relief funding.