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Catoosa County leaders say lead testing program found one remaining questionable kitchen water source; lab results pending
Summary
Catoosa County Public Schools used the voluntary Clean Water for Kids testing program and shut down any water source that exceeded threshold levels. Officials say all secondary-school sources have cleared testing; one kettle at Boynton Elementary produced elevated results and has been retested and sent to a lab for analysis.
CATOOSA COUNTY, Ga. — Catoosa County Public Schools officials said last week that a districtwide voluntary lead-testing program has cleared the district’s secondary schools but identified one remaining kitchen water source at Boynton Elementary that returned elevated results and is awaiting laboratory confirmation.
Superintendent (unnamed) told staff that the district enrolled in the Clean Water for Kids testing program, which is required by law in North Carolina but voluntary in Georgia. “I am happy to say that all secondary schools are good to go,” the superintendent said, and added that any water source with a reading above the program’s prescribed level was immediately shut down.
The superintendent said staff conducted mitigation steps at the Boynton Elementary kitchen kettle after the first high result, retested it and again recorded a high reading. “We did some mitigation factors again, different ones this time, hoping for a different result. And we have since sent the test off to be analyzed now. It is actually in the lab. We should hear it probably sometime next week,” the superintendent said.
District staff credited Chef Michael Brown from Child Nutrition and the superintendent’s leadership for volunteering for the free program. Officials said the district has tested numerous water sources and that the program is voluntary in Georgia, which they said contributes to fewer districts participating despite the program being free.
The district did not offer specific numeric readings during the presentation, instead describing procedures: any source above the program threshold was taken out of service, mitigation measures were applied, and follow-up testing was performed. The superintendent said one source remains pending laboratory confirmation; no additional sources requiring action were reported.
District officials told staff they would act on lab results and implied that any further mitigation or permanent fixes would follow the laboratory determination.
The district’s reliance on a voluntary statewide program and the absence of a dedicated state funding stream for remediation were cited qualitatively as reasons some districts avoid testing. The superintendent said concerns about remediation costs and next steps explain hesitance among some Georgia districts to enroll in the program.
District staff did not provide a public timetable for permanent remediation at Boynton Elementary beyond awaiting the lab results. They also did not disclose the specific numerical threshold from the testing protocol during the meeting.
If laboratory confirmation shows elevated lead still present, the district indicated it will continue mitigation and follow applicable steps in the Clean Water for Kids protocol.
