KANSAS CITY – An elementary school in suburban St. Louis found to be contaminated with radioactive materials will go to virtual learning for the rest of this semester.
At a meeting Tuesday night, the Hazelwood school board said that after Thanksgiving break, students and staff of Jana Elementary will be moved and re-assigned to other schools around the district.
A recent study conducted by Boston Chemical Data Corp. found levels of radioactive isotope lead-210, polonium, radium and other toxins were “far in excess” of what they’d expected in dust samples taken at different locations in and around the school. The study confirming fears revealed in a previous study by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Jana PTA President Ashley Bernaugh complained the Board had since August when they first learned of the contamination to make a better plan. "Our kids should not be strung out through the district unless there was absolutely nothing suitable, however North County is full of empty buildings."
The Board said at Tuesday night's meeting they will be demanding the agencies responsible for the contamination to immediately begin cleaning it up at Jana and any other Hazelwood District property.
The school sits in the floodplain of Coldwater Creek, which flows through the northern suburbs of St. Louis into the Missouri River. The creek was contaminated by radioactive materials by waste from weapon development from the Manhattan Project during WWII. That waste was dumped at sites near the St Louis airport, next to the creek.
The Corps of Engineers has been cleaning the creek for more than two decades.