On October 19, 2022 the Red Clay School Board approved the following complaint to the EPA regarding the mishandling of communication by the Department of Education and Department of Health and Social Services in the drinking water in Delaware public schools. We extend our gratitude to school board members Jose Mathews, Kecia T Nesmith, Adriana L Bohm, and Victor Leonard, Sr. for taking action about this important issue.
Click here to download the complaint.
Adam Ortiz
Environmental Protection Agency
Regional Administrator for Region 3
Nicholas Holomuzki
WIIN Grant
EPA Region 3
RE: Complaint to EPA about 2020 WIIN Grant for water testing for lead in Delaware schools
On April 1, 2020, EPA announced that it awarded the Delaware Department of Education $209,000 to test for lead in drinking water at schools. “In Delaware, the Department of Education will use EPA’s funding to support voluntary testing for lead in drinking water at schools and child care centers. EPA’s 3Ts (Training, Testing, and Taking Action) for Reducing Lead in Drinking Water in Schools will be used by the grantee to assist schools in implementing lead in drinking water testing including identifying sources of lead such as fountains. Testing results carried out using grant funds must be made publicly available.” https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-awards-delaware-department-education-209000-test-lead-drinking-water-schools
The 3Ts Training Manual describes the minimum standards for public communication about lead in school drinking water. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-07/epa-3ts-guidance-document-english.pdf
These guidelines include the following requirements for communication in the administration of the grant:
Developing a Communications Plan
Assembling a Communications Team
Creating a regularly updated Contact List of community members, which includes the School Superintendent and members of the School Board
Identifying Target Audiences, including parents, school employees, community members, and drinking water professionals
Developing methods of communication, including press releases, letters/fliers, mailbox or paycheck stuffers, staff newsletters, presentations, emails and websites, and social media
Identify times of communication, including before the lead in drinking water sampling program begins, as soon as results are available, when/if corrective measures are decided upon, if no corrective measures are appropriate because the lead levels are low, and in response to periodic interest in the program
Communicate through “an ongoing campaign of education and awareness, capitalizing on a variety of communication vehicles.” Communications should also include a fact sheet on the sampling program, and include the details of the 3Ts, results of sampling, identified need for corrective measures, information about public health effects and risks posed by lead in drinking water, how and where individuals may seek blood-lead level testing if they are concerned, and how families can increase their awareness of potential exposure to lead in their homes and elsewhere.
Keep an ongoing record of public outreach and communication activities.
The Department of Education, and its partner agency in this project, the Department of Health and Social Services, failed to follow the necessary communications about the water sampling program funded by the EPA through the WIIN Grant.
The Red Clay School Board was not apprised of the grant, the sampling, the results, or their implications for the health of our students, staff, and others who use our buildings, as is required by the 3Ts. Instead, the Red Clay School Board first learned about this sampling program and the results from an article published in the newspaper on Monday, October 3, 2022: Elevated levels of lead detected in water sources at 47 Delaware schools by Amanda Fries, Delaware News Journal. https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/health/2022/10/04/why-one-delaware-school-has-resorted-to-using-bottled-water/69535521007/
The failure of the Department of Education and Department of Health and Social Services to communicate about the water sampling, the results of the sampling, and what this means for health the health of our students, employees, and others who use our buildings has not only failed to meet their federal assurances of the WIIN Grant and satisfy the core principles of the 3Ts, but DOE and DHSS have also violated the public trust that the drinking water in our schools is safe.
Because it is the obligation of the EPA to provide oversight over the administration of the WIIN Grant funds by monitoring the DOE/DHSS Communications Plan, the EPA has also failed the students, employees, and community in the Red Clay School District and throughout the state of Delaware.
We would like to hear directly from you in response to this complaint about what steps the EPA will establish to correct this oversight in communications in the future.
