August 10, 2016

East Chicago School Near Lead Contamination Site Shuttered

EAST CHICAGO, Ind. (AP) — The School City of East Chicago is moving students from a school next to a housing complex where soil is contaminated with lead.

The (Munster) Times reported Tuesday that Carrie Gosch Elementary students are being moved to a school across the city. The move is partially because of low enrollment, which may be the result of parents being reluctant to send their children to school at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site, or uncertain about where they'll be living as they await vouchers to move.

Only 92 students have enrolled with classes due to begin next week.

The city has advised more than 1,000 residents they should relocate after the EPA said the ground within the neighboring West Calumet Housing Complex had high levels of arsenic and lead. The neighborhood once had a USS Lead plant.

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