Report on lead in water at CMS Schools 'eye-opening,' group says

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By Briana Harper

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Water was initially tested for lead at Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in 2017.

From sinks to water fountains, district officials said the purpose was to "protect human health."

Channel 9 learned that it took more than a year for those complete testing results to be publicly shared.

"I have a right to know, you have a right to know, everyone has a right to know if something is out there that could be impacting our children,” said Brian Kasher, with the Coalition for Clean and Healthy CMS Schools.

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Kasher said he researched the reports and said the lead test results were eye-opening.

Kasher walked Channel 9 through reports that show high levels of lead in 15 school kitchen cooking machines, several drinking outlets inside classrooms and one in the nurse’s office.

"When a child would come in to take their medication and get their drink of water, presumably that water was lead-contaminated,” Kasher said.

Now, the Coalition for Clean and Healthy CMS Schools says they've organized a meeting with Superintendent Clayton Wilcox to ensure this misstep doesn't happen again.

"Find out whether Dr. Wilcox is going to support the community and help us by defining new policy for transparent communication with parents,” Kasher said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials claim all the lead pipe problems are fixed, but Kasher is concerned there's no paper trail to prove that.

"CMS still has not produced the documents that will show us what actions they took and when they took them,” Kasher said.

On Tuesday evening, beginning at 5:30 p.m., CMPS will present the additional details of the lead test results to parents and members of the community at University Park Creative Arts School.

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