After a report showed high levels of radioactive contamination at Jana Elementary School in Florissant, the school board announced its plans for the future of the school: They'll have students out of the building and attending classes virtually, then after Thanksgiving break students will be sent out to different schools in the district.
Ashley Bernaugh, president of Jana's PTA, told KMOX that she and other parents were extremely disappointed in the school board for not responding to the needs of the community.
"A building is just a building. But a community is a group of people who have decided to trust and care for one another," she said. "And so while a school building can be contaminated and may need remediation, or need to have things fixed, that is no reason to throw away a shining star like the Jana Elementary School community."
The report, which is 26 pages long, showed elevated levels of radiation in the school's cafeteria, playground, and other locations, likely coming from the nearby Coldwater Creek.
"We stand with the Jana teachers, we stand with parents who will be struggling and scrambling to find options for virtual learning, starting on Monday," Bernaugh said. "And we're heartbroken for our students who have classmates that they had been with, some of them have been in diaper days and daycare."
Bernaugh added, "These are really important relationships that deserve to be maintained, particularly coming out of a pandemic like ours. And those those relationships are really at risk right now."
Bernaugh said that when the original letter went out in August informing parents of the testing that would occur, parents knew virtual learning may be an option. However, she said, it was "absolutely articulated" in that letter that a secondary location would be secured in case the school needed to be vacated.
"Redistricting does not have to be the only solution," Bernaugh pointed out. The letter said redistricting would only be an option if no other buildings had been found -- but parents were not updated on whether new buildings had even been looked at.
"I have asked and implored the school board and the administration to provide an exhaustive list of places they have looked at and therefore deemed unacceptable," she said. "But considering the turnaround time of everything, it does not seem those have been fully vetted and explored and they certainly have not been presented to parents and staff and other stakeholders."
Bernaugh said she and other parents want to be involved in the process, making sure it's not just all dumped on the school board.
"We are not giving up. We really do not feel like this is a plausible solution," she said.
Hear more from Ashley Bernaugh on the state of Jana Elementary:
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