最新杏吧原创

HAZELWOOD 鈥� An effort to offer reassurance about the safety of Jana Elementary School in Florissant backfired Wednesday as Hazelwood school officials and community members questioned preliminary findings from federal tests for radioactive materials.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers found no evidence of harmful radiation at Jana Elementary School in Florissant, which was shuttered last month after an independent report showed excessive levels of radioactive materials in dust and dirt samples taken in August from the campus.

鈥淔rom a radiological standpoint, the school is safe,鈥� said Col. Kevin Golinghorst, 最新杏吧原创 District commander, on Wednesday at a special board meeting of the Hazelwood School District.

The agency鈥檚 analysis of soil samples from the campus is ongoing with a full report including data released by January.

Several Hazelwood board members and community leaders questioned the findings Wednesday because there were no numbers or ranges provided from the tests.

鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 even do a fifth-grade science project without producing numbers,鈥� said Dawn Chapman of environmental advocacy group Just Moms STL. 鈥淚t鈥檚 either there or it鈥檚 not. That鈥檚 what parents want to know.鈥�

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started testing inside the Jana school building, including scanning surfaces for radiation, last month. They also sampled soil from at least 45 spots around the campus.

Preliminary results show 鈥渘o presence of radioactive material above the expected range of background levels (the level of radioactivity Mother Nature already provides),鈥� according to an Army Corps slide show from Wednesday鈥檚 board meeting.

The findings were mainly from surface areas at the school and places that collect dust like underneath furniture.

Phillip Moser, 最新杏吧原创 program manager of the Corps鈥� Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, or FUSRAP, told the board that 鈥渨hat is lagging behind is some of the soil samples.鈥� Officials said at the meeting that samples were taken from 16 feet to 30 feet underground in some spots on the campus. They said the exact test results for the soil samples, as well as the surface samples, will be provided as soon as possible.

鈥淭his is unprecedented, the amount of time it took to get you these results. We went above and beyond,鈥� Moser said. The Corps had drawn fire from the public and elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-最新杏吧原创, and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

The school鈥檚 375 students in kindergarten through fifth grade now attend class virtually and are scheduled to be reassigned to Barrington, Brown, Coldwater, McCurdy or Walker elementary schools after Thanksgiving break. Hazelwood school board president Betsy Rachel said Wednesday that the Corps report was not enough to change any decisions about Jana鈥檚 future.

The school, which opened in 1970 at 405 Jana Drive, sits in the flood plain of Coldwater Creek. The creek was contaminated with radioactive waste starting in the 1940s from the storage of residue from atomic weapons production.

The independent report from Boston Chemical Data Corp. was produced as part of a lawsuit over Coldwater Creek. An official with the Army Corps said Wednesday that the report 鈥渨as not consistent with the way we do our evaluations.鈥�

The Army Corps previously found radioactive hot spots on the creek bank at the Jana property, but nothing inside the school requires remediation, Moser said.

Marco Kaltofen, who wrote the Boston Chemical report, came to the Hazelwood board meeting Wednesday. When asked about the discrepancy in the findings, Kaltofen said he doesn鈥檛 distrust the Army Corps鈥� testing but that his team used 鈥渕icroscopic methods鈥� to look for contamination.

Hazelwood School Board treasurer Sylvester Taylor said the conflicting information has been confusing for district leaders trying to make decisions.

鈥淚鈥檓 upset because I feel like we鈥檙e pawns in this,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淚 feel like we have one report that鈥檚 biased saying that you need to get the kids out. I got another report that鈥檚 also biased that鈥檚 saying you got nothing and that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e grappling with this morning.鈥�