March 10--The Archdiocese of Chicago has closed Holy Angels Catholic School on the South Side for several days after work in the older section of the elementary school spread dust with high levels of lead.
The archdiocese did not say how high the lead level was or how long children may have been exposed to it before the school was closed this week.
Federal authorities warn that nearly all lead that is inhaled is absorbed into the body, while 20 percent to 70 percent of ingested lead is absorbed.
In a letter to parents, Principal Siobhan Cafferty said "above-normal lead levels" were "recently discovered" in an older portion of the school at 750 E. 40th St. that houses the gymnasium.
"We believe the dust was generated when a mechanical system in the school was repaired," Cafferty wrote. He gave no details of the work that was being done or how it apparently spread the dust through the school.
The school will remain closed until Monday, when all classes will be relocated in the newer section of the school "where testing has confirmed there is no lead-containing dust and there is a properly running mechanical system," Cafferty said in the letter.
The students will remain in the newer section while contractors and environmental engineers work to clean and complete "lead abatements" in the older section by March 25. Cafferty did not say what those measures would entail.
The next week, during spring break, the gymnasium will be repainted, Cafferty said.
"When your children return from spring break on Monday, April 4, they will return to their normal classrooms and have full use of the school building and its facilities," Cafferty said.
This is not the first time some of the parents at Holy Angels have gone through a scare about lead poisoning.
Last fall, the nearby St. Elizabeth School was permanently closed because of unsafe levels of lead found in paint. Families were offered a tuition discount if they transferred their children to Holy Angels.
wlee@tribpub.com
