400 students will be displaced from Jana Elementary after radioactive contamination was found in the Florissant school.
The district announced the plan recently, to the disappointment of many Jana parents who were hoping that the kids could all be moved into a new building. PTA president Ashley Bernaugh said displacement and redistricting is not the only answer.
“The obvious solution is to keep Jana together. And we can do that at already-existing Hazelwood facilities that have existing classrooms,” Bernaugh said. “The former Kirby Middle, we all know it as the Hazelwood Opportunity Center, off 367, would have enough space to accommodate all of Jana together.”
The district released a statement saying the best solution is to redistrict the kids into five existing elementary schools — Barrington, Brown, Coldwater, McCurdy and Walker — starting on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The topic is expected to come up at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.
The Army Corps of Engineers is currently sampling Jana Elementary in their investigation. The previous report that found radiation was done by a company called the Boston Chemical Data Corporation, and some were skeptical that their methods wouldn’t produce as accurate of a result as the Army Corps of Engineers. The soil investigations, they say, will be done in about two weeks.
Copyright 2022 KMOX (Audacy). All Rights Reserved.
Follow KMOX | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Listen on the free Audacy app.
Tell your smart speaker to play K M O X.