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East Chicago school district faces lead contamination woes

Posted August 23, 2016 7:00 am

The Associated Press

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) - The East Chicago school district has been upended after more than 1,000 residents of a public housing complex in the northwest Indiana city were told to move because of health risks from lead and arsenic contamination in soil.

School City of East Chicago Superintendent Paige McNulty tells The Times of Northwest Indiana (http://bit.ly/2bf8Nrw ) that several issues could hurt the district's finances, including an enrollment decrease and a closed elementary school building on contaminated land.

McNulty says current enrollment is a few hundred less than the 4,400 students expected to enroll in the district's schools this fall.

McNulty closed Carrie Gosch Elementary School and moved the students to the former West Side Middle School.

The Indiana State Board of Education adopted a resolution Aug. 10 to give the district a disaster loan of up to $3 million for the move.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com

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