- Chemical Health & Environmental Management Information System -
The
Washington Post
Certified Free of Mercury, Ballou High to Reopen
By
Martin Weil,
Washington Post Staff Writer
Washington DC (November 4, 2003) - The District's Ballou Senior High School, which has been closed for more than a month since mercury was stolen there and spread around the building, will reopen tomorrow, the school system announced last night.
Officials said that the school in Southeast Washington has been certified as clean and safe from mercury contamination by the Environmental Protection Agency and the D.C. Department of Health.
Students, who have been attending classes elsewhere, were asked to report to the school's south parking lot tomorrow at 8:45 a.m. to get instructions about the reopening. A meeting at the school has been scheduled for tonight to address concerns from parents and guardians.
Since the Oct. 2 theft, there have been no reports of anyone showing symptoms of exposure to mercury, a potentially poisonous liquid metal that constantly emits vapors.
A 16-year-old Ballou student was arrested Oct. 27 and charged with taking the mercury. The theft touched off a series of events that have had a severe impact on the school and in the surrounding area.
After the spill, authorities closed Ballou, began a $1 million cleanup effort and sent students to classes at Hart Middle School and the old Washington Convention Center.
Other steps included screening the clothing worn by more than 1,200 people at the school the day the mercury was scattered there. Of those screened, 49 had mercury levels high enough to warrant laboratory testing.
In addition, 17 families with a total of 69 members were evacuated from their homes after tests for mercury there. The evacuated residents were sent to a hotel. A Metrobus, apparently used by one or more students to go home from school the day of the spill, also showed traces of the silvery liquid.
According to an account of the theft, a student took as much as a cupful of the liquid metal and then passed it around to friends.
They carried it on pieces of paper and spread it through the gym, the hallways and various classrooms. They poured it from hand to hand during lunch in the cafeteria, and some took it outside and threw it at each other.