Parents of students at McClellan Elementary School held a rally with teachers Monday morning to voice health concerns about lead paint chips found inside the school.
"It is quite disturbing and makes us question how much CPS actually cares," said Lupe Tapia, a parent of a child at McClellan at 35th and Wallace streets in the Bridgeport neighborhood.
Cindy Goga, a McClellan parent said the school's parents complained "for a long time about the falling, chipping paint in the classrooms, in the hallways, and we’ve continuously been ignored."
"In October, when the paint started chipping, we did reach out to CPS," said Kelly Harmon, a teacher at McClellan. "CPS had told our administration that there was nothing to worry about, that it was safe to stay in the rooms and that everything was OK. Then they told us things were going to be fixed by Thanksgiving break."
Another teacher at Monday's rally said "it doesn't seem like the situation has been resolved and the more we bring it up, it doesn't seem to be escalating the situation."
NBC 5 reached out to Chicago Public Schools for a response and received this statement:
"The safety of our staff and students is a top priority at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the District strives to respond quickly and efficiently to any and all environmental issues and potential risks. CPS strives to address all paint when it begins to flake and fall. Lead-based paint is not a danger unless disturbed and ingested. The CPS Environmental team was first informed of an issue of disturbed and flaking paint at McClellan Dec. 9, and took immediate action. After professional environmental testing confirmed on Tuesday, Dec. 13 that the flaking paint contained lead, CPS immediately took action and moved students and staff in the two impacted classrooms and one office, and began to implement a remediation plan. Communication was shared with all families and staff last week through letters and a town hall meeting, and the District and school will continue to keep the McClellan community updated."
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The Chicago Teachers Union said it is demanding a meeting with Mayor Lori Lightfoot to require all rooms in the school get tested for lead and all students and staff receive blood tests.
"CTU is not going to wait," said Jackson Potter, CTU vice president. "We're going to give lead tests to all of our teachers in these schools, because we don't trust that a mayor who has only changed 0.01% of lead pipes in this city is going to actually protect the health and welfare of students and staff."
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CTU said it will also support McClellan teachers if they don’t want to go back inside the school after winter break.
