The EPA notified Garland ISD of its findings of elevated lead levels near Park Crest Elementary.
Garland ISD trustees voted on Tuesday on Sept. 28, to pay an independent contractor close to $70,000 to test the soil at Sam Houston Middle School for elevated levels of arsenic and lead.
The vote comes after the federal government started cleaning up contaminated soil at Park Crest Elementary School and its environs last month. Sam Houston Middle School sits just across from Park Crest Elementary School.
After years of residents’ concerns, the Environmental Protection Agency and some Garland residents had done soil testing in the Park Crest neighborhood.
According to a statement put out by the district in July, The EPA notified Garland ISD of its findings of elevated lead levels near Park Crest Elementary. The EPA began cleaning the contaminated soil in the area in August. EPA site coordinator Eric Delgado said the clean-up process would take up to ten weeks to complete.
