BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Imagine learning your child was drinking from a fountain that had lead levels more than 30 times the legal limit.

That's what parents in the Binghamton city school district were coming to grips Wednesday night.

But school leaders say the report, from another media outlet detailing those numbers didn’t tell the real story.

According to the assistant superintendent, one water fountain tested with lead levels of 15 parts per billion while school wasn't in session.

He says that unit was then flushed on a daily basis, and levels were brought back to an acceptable and safe rate.

"We have a health and safety inspector that is continuously testing our water sources and our monitors, and if something comes up, we address it immediately," said Michael Holly, Binghamton City School District Assistant Superintendent.

In November, the district decided to shut down the unit, while it was still testing at a safe rate.

In the months to follow, lead levels in that fountain rose nearly 30 times the legal limit.

But school leaders say that's because it was turned off, and wasn't being flushed anymore.

"It was taken out of place when we realized that the filter, which was a logical, permanent fix was not going to be effective. That's when we shut the service down, but at no time were student’s drinking water that was above the threshold," said Holly.

Current law states that every fountain that's in-use must be tested and documented for the public.

Out-of-service fountains like this one are not required to be on the report.

Staff at the school say they included it anyway in an attempt to be transparent.

"No students or staff had access to the fountain. That data was collected as part of our process to try to determine a permanent fix and we were continuing to try to document our data based on that," said Holly.

Since 2016, New York State law says all schools must test for lead every five years.

The EPA's current action level for lead in water is anything above 15 parts per billion.