CPS says it fixed all hazardous lead paint identified this year. Records and school staff tell a different story.
A WBEZ review of Chicago Public Schools records shows long delays at some schools between when paint was identified and when it was removed.
CPS says it fixed all hazardous lead paint identified this year. Records and school staff tell a different story.
A WBEZ review of Chicago Public Schools records shows long delays at some schools between when paint was identified and when it was removed.
By Nereida MorenoTeachers and staff at a Bridgeport elementary school say they complained for months last fall about peeling lead-based paint and the hazards it posed for students in their humid, century-plus-old building.
After months of advocacy, union intervention and media scrutiny — and after teachers tested the paint on their own and found lead — the dangerous paint was finally removed over winter break.
“We asked many times,” said Kelly Harmon, a special education teacher at McClellan, whose room had flaking paint chips. “Our administration kept emailing [the school district], and they kept hearing back that it wasn’t a problem.”
But school district officials were aware it was a problem. In August 2021, the district found deteriorating paint in Harmon’s room and the gym, according to public records obtained by WBEZ. Despite that, CPS did not make any required repairs until the following June. For 10 months, students remained in Harmon’s classroom where deteriorated lead paint was found on the ceiling and one wall.
The paint in the gym was also fixed in June 2022, nearly a year after it was first identified. But that same month, additional tests uncovered even more damaged lead paint in Harmon’s classroom and a nearby room. CPS says the paint was finally removed in both rooms six months later over winter break. Inspectors recommended that CPS “notify all facility users” of any positive test results, but teachers say they were kept in the dark.
CPS wouldn’t say why they kept Harmon and her students in a classroom with chipped lead paint for nearly a year. As for the additional six-month delay in removing the problematic paint identified in June 2022, CPS blamed it on a breakdown in communication, which they say they’ve tried to remedy. Last fall, parents spoke out at news conferences to raise awareness, including Cindy Goga whose two kids attend the school. She said the city failed her children.
“Every morning parents come to this school and we drop our students off thinking that they’re going to be safe and well taken care of. Imagine our dismay when we found out that the building itself was dangerous,” she told reporters.
The school district knows many of its older buildings are lined with lead-based paint and routinely tests for lead paint deterioration ahead of construction. CPS and experts say intact lead paint isn’t potentially hazardous until it peels or flakes, and that it should be fixed and the areas blocked off while it’s safely removed.
This past school year workers found lead-based paint in 95 elementary schools and 24 high schools, CPS said. Almost every one of those schools had deteriorating paint in some rooms and required remediation, according to a WBEZ analysis of records between June and January.
In a statement, the school district said safety is a top priority and that it works to respond “quickly and efficiently to any and all environmental issues and potential risks.” It says it implemented a new internal system after the situation at McClellan School last winter to ensure better communication and a speedier response.
The school district says the average time between testing and mitigation is about 10 working days and depends on several factors, including the extent of damage, its location, the availability of additional space and the school’s schedule.
CPS also said every deteriorating lead paint project that required removal this past school year at the 119 affected schools, including McClellan, was complete and that “the facilities were returned to use after completion.”
But records supplied by the district show at least 11 ongoing projects that won’t be completed until the summer and at least five more don’t appear to have been scheduled yet. And when WBEZ spot-checked a few schools where CPS said mitigation work was done, staff said it was incomplete or documented incorrectly, raising questions about the accuracy of CPS’ records.
At McClellan, after Harmon and others demanded action, workers tested across the campus over winter break and made repairs in time for classes to resume in January. Inspectors found more chipping lead paint in parts of at least nine rooms, plus the staff lounge, the main office, the assistant principal’s office, a stairwell landing and other areas. The principal said also CPS pledged to prioritize mechanical improvements in the humid school to prevent paint from cracking and peeling.
McClellan runs a program for students with significant disabilities, including some who are medically fragile. Harmon says many of the students in rooms found to be contaminated by lead last winter had sensory needs, making them more likely to put their hands in their mouths
Century-old buildings with lead-based paint
Lead-based paints have been banned in facilities like schools and for residential use since 1978, but many CPS schools predate the 1970s and contain lead-based paint that could require mitigation. The district points out that its mere presence in a school does not present a hazard if the paint is in good condition. It says minor paint damage, including scratches and small chips, are “not uncommon and do not pose an exposure risk.” The areas are “monitored and touched” up to prevent further damage, CPS said in a statement.
But the paint poses a hazard if it’s chipping, especially if there is dust. The area is supposed to be isolated, cleared up and mitigated. Experts say no amount of lead exposure is safe for kids.
“It’s dangerous because when it deteriorates or pulverizes into dust, children inhale it or ingest it — usually by putting their hands in their mouths,” said Dr. Susan Buchanan, clinical associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the UIC School of Public Health, and director of the Great Lakes Center for Reproductive and Children’s Environmental Health.
Buchanan says paint dust remains the top source of lead poisoning in children. Kids also can be exposed if they chew on surfaces coated with lead-based paint, including window sills and door edges, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“For children, it directly interferes with neurodevelopment. We have very good evidence of loss of IQ points and behavior problems from lead poisoning,” Buchanan said.
Illinois law requires that all children 6 or younger be evaluated for lead exposure and tested if necessary to enroll in daycare, preschool and kindergarten. Dr. Buchanan recommends annual blood tests starting from nine months to age 6.
She says there are no guidelines recommending blood screening for teens because they don’t have the same exposure risks as younger children.
“They’re not sucking on toys … so they shouldn’t have that same level of exposure,” Buchanan said.
But Harmon, the McClellan teacher, adds that even older kids sometimes put their hands and toys in their mouths due to their disability or sensory needs.
“Any lead is too much lead, regardless of age or disability,” she said.
Schools with ongoing deteriorating paint problems
In December, workers found deteriorated lead paint in Room 207 at Libby Elementary in the city’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, CPS records show. Six months later, the district confirmed it has not scheduled any remediation work in the classroom, saying repairs to the roof must be completed before fixing the classroom ceiling. This comes even though CPS says the average wait time between lead tests and repairs is 10 working days. Kids were present in the room throughout the school day, and the area hasn’t been blocked off.
“When you lift up the ceiling tiles in our building, you can see the original [lead paint],” said Jonathan Eigenbrode, a teacher and union delegate at Libby.
“And then on the third floor, there’s a lot of paint that is literally flaking, chipping or water damage off the walls,” he said before the school year ended earlier this month.
CPS removed lead paint from the main entrance, kitchen, lunchroom and other areas at Libby over the winter break but “never finished the job,” according to Eigenbrode, because they didn’t paint over the areas that were mitigated. CPS says a lead mitigation job is complete after the area is coated with a surface primer.
“You can see where CPS had come in and patched up areas,” he said. “How are [students] supposed to enjoy going to school if it constantly looks the way it currently looks?
Eigenbrode has long suspected the building had lead paint because it was built in the early 20th century. He said he hopes Mayor Brandon Johnson will handle facility issues differently than his predecessors, and that the new administration will offer “more feedback and less runaround.”
“I’m optimistic because I’ve seen a lot of changes happen very quickly when I start pointing things out,” he said.
Schools are responsible for communicating with staff and families before the start of any environmental mitigation work and after the work is complete, CPS says.
The district said it tests and mitigates damaged lead paint when the buildings are unoccupied, including during breaks and after-school hours. That allows workers to go in, scrape off any lead paint and cover the area with new layers of primer and paint.
“My number one job here is to ensure that our students are safe … so anytime [lead issues are] brought to my attention, I want to get ahead of it right away,” said Charlene Reynolds, principal of Dewey Elementary in Fuller Park on the South Side.
In February, workers found chipping lead paint in the third-floor gym. Students would knock the ceiling tiles loose with balls, exposing the older paint layers underneath. Reynolds acknowledged the area was never blocked off from students and has remained in use. District officials said the damaged lead paint in the gym will be repaired before students return in the fall.
Reynolds said she’s not aware of any children who became sick as a result. But experts say lead poisoning can be hard to detect. Even people who seem healthy can have high blood levels of lead, according to the Mayo Clinic, affecting a child’s mental and physical development.
“Of course, it would be nice to know that you’re walking into a building that does not contain any lead. But because I have not had any complaints from students or their parents, I haven’t been uber concerned about it,” Reynolds said.
Workers also found deteriorating lead paint in two classrooms, a few bathrooms, the boiler room, and other areas during a construction project last summer. It was fixed before the start of the school year, CPS records show.
Reynolds said the lead-based paint was beneath a layer of latex paint throughout the building.
“Kids would pull it off, it was something that they just liked to do,” Reynolds said. “It was a concern because I knew how old the building was, that possibly there was some lead.”
After CPS fixed that deteriorating paint, Reynolds said the entire school received a new coat of paint while kids were on summer break — blue and gold, the school’s colors.
Union support
The Chicago Teachers Union created a Google form for members to report potential hazards, like deteriorating lead paint and asbestos. At least 15 teachers flagged environmental issues this past school year, according to Lauren Bianchi, a teacher at Washington High School and chair of the CTU Climate Justice Committee.
“We’re encouraging people to make sure you are including the union in that conversation so we can make sure that there’s follow-up and that we can document just how many schools are having these issues,” she said.
After the lead issues at McClellan Elementary in Bridgeport became public last December, the district said it implemented a new internal system in an effort to address environmental complaints in a more timely manner. It’s also expanding training for all building managers, engineers, and custodians to help them identify potential paint-related hazards.
Bianchi says the union has distributed store-bought lead tests and done campus walk-throughs to help teachers document any environmental hazards. She said it typically takes an emergency situation — and community uproar — for the district to address lead issues quickly.
“There needs to be a systemic remediation and greening of all of our schools, starting with schools like mine in environmental justice communities,” Bianchi said. “Black and brown communities that are most divested in should be first in line.”
Nereida Moreno covers education for WBEZ. Follow @nereidamorenos and @WBEZeducation.