Really, you would think this is old news, worthy of yellowed newspaper clippings only, but no: our city is apparently again not doing due diligence in testing and remediating drinking water sources in schools.

Parents at Maury Elementary created this petition, after discovering that the city agency in charge of lead in water testing, DGS, did not follow through properly on testing water sources. Maury’s community is in the odd position of having had two sets of drinking water sources at two separate school buildings: one set at its old school and another set of drinking sources at Eliot-Hine Middle School, where Maury students are being taught while their school is modernized. Both buildings appear to have had detectable levels of lead in their water fixtures while children were accessing the water for drinking.

The petition asks for changes in the way DGS tests and remediates water sources in schools to prevent children’s exposure to lead, which is uniquely harmful to their developing brains.

Be sure to sign.

(And maybe, for good measure, testify at the city council hearing on June 29 on DCPS summer modernizations and/or mention lead in water at one of the education town halls this month and next. Like putting children into cages, there is no amount good for kids.)