Children at an Oakland elementary school have been exposed to water with lead levels four times higher than allowed under federal guidelines, test results obtained Thursday by The Chronicle show.
Administrators at some of the schools with contaminated water said they had only recently been informed of the findings, and even the city’s school board president heard the news Thursday from a Chronicle reporter.
Oakland has tested 47 of the district’s 87 school sites.
Besides the temporary Glenview site, contamination levels exceeded federal standards at Thornhill, Brookfield, Fruitvale, Joaquin Miller and Burckhalter elementary schools, as well as American Indian Charter High School on the former Lakeview Elementary campus.
That faucet and taps at the other six school sites with high levels of lead were taken out of use after officials learned the test results, said district spokeswoman Valerie Goode.
District officials said Glenview parents were informed Saturday about the lead in the water at the school’s temporary site, which was once the home of the now-closed Santa Fe Elementary School.
“But now I’m about to know.” Harris later said the district is working to address the lead issue.
San Francisco Unified also received results this month, showing three schools had high levels of lead: West Portal and Malcolm X elementary schools and San Francisco International High School.
In Oakland, officials are continuing to test taps across the district.
It’s still unclear how significant — and expensive — the lead problem will be, Oakland officials said.