«Breaking Pic News» Unsafe drinking water at Detroit public schools result in a shutdown of fountains and sinks.

Thousands of Detroit's public school students were told Tuesday to drink from district-supplied water coolers or bottled water on the first day of classes, after drinking fountains were shut off because of contaminants in some water fixtures.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said last week that elevated levels of lead or copper were found in fixtures at 34 schools. Test results are pending for other schools.

The discovery of contaminated water in Detroit's schools follows a lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan. In 2014 and 2015, Flint didn't properly treat corrosive water that was pulled from the Flint River. As a result, lead in old pipes contaminated the water going into homes and businesses, and it streamed from household taps as a brown and smelly fluid.

Teacher Cedric Cook pushes cases of water into Noble School in Detroit Tuesday

Some children in the city were subsequently found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood, which can lead to developmental delays and other health problems.

Eager to not undergo the same health and financial fallout as Flint, officials decided no students at Detroit's 106 public schools should drink water from existing fountains or sinks until a solution can be found and the water declared safe. School officials believe old fixtures, not the water source, may be to blame.

'We're still providing water that we believe is safer, and, ultimately, we actually believe students will drink more water than they did previously,' Vitti said Tuesday at Gardner Elementary on Detroit's west side. 'But this is about teaching and learning, not a conversation about water. It's an injustice that children and parents have to think about quality water, but we did the overall testing to be transparent and be proactive.'

'I can sleep better at night and actually look in the mirror knowing that we did the right thing,' he added.

Detroit Federation of Teachers president Ivy Bailey helps carry bottled water at Noble School in Detroit on Tuesday

A student gets water from a district-provided cooler in the hallway at Gardner Elementary School in Detroit

Vitti said the cost of the coolers and bottled water will be $200,000 over two months, and he's looking at developing a long-term plan for new central water stations at every school with independent piping systems.

But as parent Quala Bennett dropped two children off at Gardner Elementary Tuesday, she wondered why the district only recently began testing its water.

'I don't understand why it's still a problem. I don't understand why now they're checking the school system,' Bennett said. 'They should have done that once the whole Flint thing happened.'

'Detroit Schools should not have waited until the start of the school year to alert parents about the water issues,' said Rhonda Walton, whose grandson is a kindergartner at Gardner.

'That's something that should have been ongoing over the summer,' Walton said. 'They knew that we had to be at school by today. And those issues should have been corrected by today.'

Some 50,000 Detroit public school students, like those pictured above at Gardner,  will start the school year Tuesday by drinking water from coolers, not fountains

Walton also said she reminds her grandson not to drink the water. 'We're not touching that water if we don't have to,' she said.

Ken Coleman, a spokesman for the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said the union would deliver bottled water and hand sanitizer to Noble Elementary-Middle School on Detroit's west side Tuesday afternoon, and that more would be distributed to other schools later. The American Federation of Teachers is providing the water and hand sanitizer.

Local teachers' union leaders are expected to meet Tuesday afternoon with the American Federation of Teachers to discuss how to address issue.

'We see this as an effort to augment what already is being provided by the district,' Coleman said. 'It's our opportunity to help make the school setting a better learning environment for our students.'

For now, drinking fountains and sinks at Detroit schools will be running dry

Link hienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/05/unsafe-drinking-water-at-detroit-public-schools-result-in-a-shutdown-of-fountains-and-sinks/
Main photo article Thousands of Detroit’s public school students were told Tuesday to drink from district-supplied water coolers or bottled water on the first day of classes, after drinking fountains were shut off because of contaminants in some water fixtures.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said last week...

It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.

Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.

Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca





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