Spanish Fort Elementary Clean-up, Update

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By Debbie Williams Reporter

M50o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Spanish Fort Elementary Clean-up, Update

Published: Mon, January 21, 2008 - 4:42 pm
Last Updated: Monday, January 21, 2008 - 5:42 pm

Debbie Williams

Students will be back in class tomorrow after a day off to honor civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King. But Spanish Fort Elementary will remain closed while crews continue cleaning up lead contamination.
Eighty percent of the job is done outside but crews haven't started decontaminating inside the building.
While most folks had the day off. Work crews were busy getting the lead out of Spanish Fort Elementary school. "When testing was done it was determined that after more than 60 soil samples that there were some positive samples that exceeded the state guidelines and those areas are now being dug up and the top soil will be replaced," says school spokesman Terry Wilhite.
Three truck loads of dirt are being removed. "We got about four areas we're going to go down about three inches in the soil to remove that and we'll have further testing on that," says Bill Baltz who owns the company in charge of the cleanup. "You need to get the outside cleaned up before you go inside."
This all started back in December during the Christmas break. Work crews were sand blasting the awnings built back in 1965 to spruce up the campus a little bit. That's when they decided to test the paint they had blasted away and found it was loaded with lead.
"This has been a massive effort more than two point five acres of campus totally cleaned on the outside," says Wilhite.
This week, clean up is expected to begin inside the building but it won't be easy according to Baltz. "Every square inch of any table, desk top, inside and bottom will have to be wiped down and decontaminated."
Crews will concentrate on 18 classrooms at the core of the campus. School officials vow students will not return to campus until it is safe.
It could still take weeks before the school gets a clean bill of health. In the meantime, students continue classes at three area churches.

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