Polk County Education
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • August 31, 2016 13A
Crew: Students find new way to battle laziness
Continued from Page 14A
“If you see someone doing
something (damaging), you
are more likely to tell people
to stop,” Graham said. “It’s a
pride thing.”
Sophomore Phoenix
Brown acknowledged anoth-
er benefit: combating lazi-
ness.
She said she has a ten-
dency to want to lounge
her summer away, but she
can’t while working sum-
mer duty.
“I’m keeping myself busy
and I can see a healthy dif-
ference,” she said. “I’m
working instead of being
lazy.”
Then, there’s Gilbert’s fa-
mous habit of being gener-
ous with snacks and treats,
like rhubarb and ice cream
at lunch on Wednesday.
“Even when you are work-
ing, it feels like you are on a
break,” said sophomore Seth
Hammond.
Graham added that while
the group has a good time
together, they’re working
hard and have accomplished
a lot this summer.
“It’s an incredible amount
of work — a ton, a ton of
work — but it all pays be-
cause it looks beautiful,” he
said.
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Tracy Young, Nathan Gilbert and Seth Hammond prepare to complete more work.
Kenny Graham gets ready to clear some weeds on Aug. 24.
New plan won’t require lead testing
State Department of Education will require districts to reduce exposure
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
SALEM — The State
Board of Education’s new
rules regarding plans for
schools to reduce student
exposure to lead in water
won’t require testing.
But it does make districts
responsible for coming up
with plans to reduce expo-
sure to lead through water
and paint, and to make
those strategies public
through a “Healthy and Safe
Schools Plan.”
Neither the Oregon De-
partment of Education nor
the Oregon Health Authority
has the legal authority to re-
quire lead testing. The
healthy schools plan does
compel districts to make a
“plan to test for and reduce
exposure to lead in water
used for drinking or food
preparation.”
The rule also requires
schools make plans for re-
ducing exposure to lead
paint in compliance with
the United States Environ-
mental Protection Agency’s
“Renovation, Repair and
Painting Program Rule.”
Plans for radon testing
and pest management, both
required by law, are to be in-
cluded in the Healthy and
Safe Schools document in
an effort to be more trans-
parent about what schools
have in place to deal with
environmental issues in
buildings.
“The rule was crafted to
do two things: one, to pro-
mote maximum flexibility
for districts and, two, also
maximum transparency to
communities,” said Michael
Elliott, of ODE, during an in-
formational presentation on
the new rule.
Those plans are public,
and results from any testing
done in accordance with
those plans are to be re-
leased within five days of re-
ceiving them.
While lead testing is not
required in the rule, ODE
spokeswoman Tricia Yates
said the rules provide guid-
ance to districts which also
allow for the public to have a
say in how schools plan to
test and reduce exposure.
Brett Sherry, with OHA,
said there is no safe level of
lead exposure, but noted
that most elevated lead lev-
els don’t stem from expo-
sure at schools or through
drinking water. Lead expo-
sure is especially danger-
ous to children younger
than 6 years of age because
their brains are still devel-
oping.
“Lead based paint is the
major cause of childhood
lead poisoning in Oregon,”
Sherry said. “The vast ma-
jority of that is happening in
the home.”
He said there has been no
direct link established be-
tween elevated blood lead
levels and drinking water.
Kari Salis, also with OHA,
said if schools are testing,
the department recom-
mends following Environ-
mental Protection Agency
protocol. She said the guid-
ance isn’t clear about when
testing should be conduct-
ed, but is clear about what
conditions should be in
place before samples are
drawn.
She said the EPA recom-
mends testing after water
has been sitting in the pipes
for eight to 18 hours, and
that if testing in the summer,
schools should try to simu-
late regular conditions.
She said it’s up to school
districts if they want to test
more faucets than those
used for drinking and food
preparation or if they want
use a lower “action level”
than the 20 parts per billion.
Elliott said it is possible
that lawmakers would desig-
nate funding to schools for
testing, but money to fix
problems found through
testing is likely to remain the
districts’ responsibility — at
least for now.
“There is no designated
source of funds,” he said.
Draft Healthy and Safe
Schools Plans must be sub-
mitted to ODE by Oct. 1 and
final plans are due Jan. 1,
2017.