ST. LOUIS– The Hazelwood School District Board of Education, which is already trying to interpret two sets of tests that have yielded different conclusions regarding the safety of one of its elementary schools, is scheduled to receive preliminary results of a third set of tests Tuesday.

The district said it hired St. Charles,Mo.-based SCI Engineering to test Jana Elementary School and school grounds. The company will present what the meeting’s agenda describes as “initial findings” Tuesday night.

The meeting comes less than a week after the Army Corps of Engineers reported to board members that its re-testing of the site found that from a “radiological standpoint the school is safe.”

The Army Corps re-tested the site in October following the release of a report by the Boston Chemical Data Corp. of testing done in August that it said found “significant radioactive contamination” at the site.

The school sits in the Coldwater Creek floodplain. Coldwater Creek was contaminated in the 1940s and 1950s when waste from atomic bomb material manufactured in St. Louis got into the waterway near Lambert Airport, where the waste was stored. The result was an environmental mess that resulted in a Superfund declaration in 1989.

The site near the airport has largely been cleaned up but remediation of the creek itself won’t be finished until 2038, Corps officials have said.

Students and staff haven’t been inside the building for weeks, and will be re-districted to other Hazelwood elementary schools after the Thanksgiving recess. 

While the Army Corps’ preliminary findings received a mixed reaction from the Board of Education, the lack of hard data–which the Army Corps has said should come in January– has left many still asking questions. 

Ashley Bernaugh, President of the Jana Elementary Parent-Teacher Association, told Spectrum News the Army Corps’ findings don’t speak to the agency's previous sampling at the site that showed elevated levels of radium and uranium.

Marco Kaltofen, the Boston Chemical Data Corp. investigator who authored the study released in October showing the contamination, said the Army Corps’ didn’t test enough for Lead 210.

On Monday, an Army Corps spokesman said the agency stood by its product.

“We took nearly 1,000 samples and measurements throughout the school and the grounds and preliminary results show no presence of radioactive material above the level of radioactivity Mother Nature already provides,” Col. Kevin Golinghorst, St. Louis District commander said in a statement. “So, from a radiological standpoint, the school is safe."

Bernaugh said the offices of U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley and U.S. Rep. Cori Bush have both been in touch with her since last Wednesday’s presentation by the Army Corps to the Hazelwood School Board. Both have called for a swift federal response to the issue, with Hawley suggesting the Biden administration declare a federal emergency and to rebuild a new school if necessary.

In a Monday statement to Spectrum News, Hawley said “The parents and students of Jana Elementary deserve transparency surrounding the radioactive contamination at Jana Elementary School. The Federal Government needs to release all of the data surrounding their investigation so it can be evaluated on the merits.”

“Without any hard data and numbers presented at this time, I do not have confidence that our children and community members are safe at Jana Elementary," Bush said in a statement to Spectrum News Tuesday morning. "Exposure to radioactive waste, at any level, is unacceptable. The Army Corps must cleanup Jana Elementary swiftly and thoroughly and must further study nearby areas to ensure the safety of our entire community. My team and I are working daily with all parties to ensure that this happens.” 

The Army Corps of Engineers has said it will be present at Tuesday’s Hazelwood School Board meeting, which starts at 6:30pm at 15955 New Halls Ferry Road, Florissant, MO 63031.

The Army Corps will also hold a Town Hall meeting Thursday Nov. 17 at Florissant’s Municipal Court at 4575 Washington Street from 5pm to 8pm, where it will answer questions about the agency’s testing and results. Monday night, an Army Corps spokesman said the agency would be providing data summaries of the structural and soil surveys done at the Jana Elementary site. 

Bernaugh said the timing of the Army Corps of Engineers' event conflicts with "Meet The Teacher" nights scheduled at the five schools that will take in Jana Elementary students.