AVONDALE — An Avondale school has tested positive for lead since Chicago Public Schools launched district-wide testing in May.
Reilly Elementary, first tested in late May, was retested June 8. Nine of the 45 samples showed lead levels above federal limits of 15 parts per billion. Reilly, 3650 W. School St., had a sample testing as high as 354 parts per billion.
Von Linne and Avondale-Logandale elementary schools both had results below the government standard. Both schools had some samples with lead levels below 15 parts per billion.
At Von Linne, 3221 N. Sacramento Ave., three samples of water from a fountain in the basement studio had lead levels between 5.4 and 10.3 parts per billion.
Some samples of water at Logandale had very low levels of lead, with the highest sample testing around 1.6 ppb. Others had no lead detected.
Reilly Elementary retested to address concerns that it might have gotten a false positive due to the water not being used in several days at the school. While it initially got a single positive sample, the second test revealed high levels of lead from multiple sources.
Those samples came from a kindergarten room sink and a main hall fountain, while dozens others had some lead, but below the federal line.
"We are working to determine the causes in all our schools and develop remediation plans for the 4 percent of drinking fountains and sinks that have lead above the federal action level," CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said in a statement.
Lorca Elementary, the fourth public school in the neighborhood, won't be tested until next year. CPS is prioritizing schools with pre-kindergarten programs built before 1986, which are at greater risk of exposure because lead was allowed in building materials until that time.
Lorca was built in 2010 as part of former Mayor Richard M. Daley's Modern Schools Across America initiative.
Across Chicago, 26 schools have now tested positive for lead levels exceeding the government's action level:
Blair Early Childhood Center in Clearing has tested samples as high as 1,100 parts per billion, while others schools on the list stretch from Andersonville to Altgard Gardens, and as far west as Montclare.
The district has gotten results from 79 schools as of June 14. So far, one in three schools has had lead levels above 15 parts per billion.
The district said it would host a series of meetings on the topic this week, while Chicago aldermen are calling for hearings on the matter.
Ald. Christopher Taliaferro (29th) said he demanded answers on what CPS is doing to clear its water of lead.
"In 2016, it is outrageous that we must face the risk of putting our children in harm's way by sending them to school," Taliaferro said. "We know how to get rid of lead ... so that it is present in our schools must be unacceptable to us."
The tests have shown that 26 drinking fountains and 22 sinks have high levels of lead. Four of the sinks were in kitchens, CPS said.
Though nearly one-third of tested schools have shown high levels of lead, the overwhelming majority of the water lines in the schools are safe, CPS said.
The district has tested 1,112 water fixtures in the 78 schools, and 48 of the fixtures had at least one same with a lead level above the Environmental Protection Agency's action level. That equates to 4.3 percent of fixtures having a lead issue.
The fixtures testing positive for high levels of lead appear to not be in frequent use by kids of school staff, CPS said in a report.
All of the fixtures with dangerous levels of lead have been turned off until the district develops a plan to address the individual fixture issues. Families at the schools with high lead levels have been notified of the issue, CPS said.
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