Chicago Archdiocese Preparing Lead-Testing Plan For Catholic Schools
(CBS) -- The Chicago Archdiocese says it will begin testing for lead in the water at Catholic schools in the next few weeks, but officials haven't decided on a testing plan yet, and doubt they can finish before the end of the summer.
A "handful" of calls have come in from parents, says the head of Chicago's Catholic schools. They are calls asking if the archdiocese plans to test the water for lead.
"We're still figuring out the protocols and the timing and the way this will all come together. But we expect this to begin in the next few weeks and take place over the summertime," says Dr. Jim Rigg, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese.
He says they will test for lead in about 200 schools, at least. The work probably won't be done by the end of the summer, he says.
There are about 30 other Catholic schools that aren't run by the Archdiocese and aren't associated with a parish.
Rigg says it's not clear if lead testing will be done in those schools.
He says there's no imminent threat. It's just the attention lead testing has received that precipitated this.