It's a crazy dilemma, to be sure.

Yes, my son's school building is in dire need of the renovations that are planned to be going on for the next couple of years.  Yes, the kids can't be attending school in that same building with all that work going on.  Yes, I'm kinda happy that the proposed temporary site is much, much closer to where I live.

BUT...

...when lead levels in the ground of the temporary school site are found to be much, much higher than normal, what will the school district be doing about it?:

The school board plans to remediate the future playground area, but didn't test a much larger area where modular classrooms and the cafeteria will be located. There is no word yet on whether that area will be remediated, even though it wasn't tested.

"I feel very strongly that the school needs to step up and protect our children and do it transparently," said (Audubon student parent Melissa) Piñera.

But Lourdes Moran, the school board president whose grandchild attends Audubon Charter School, said parents shouldn't be concerned.

"I would not jeapardize (sic) my child, my grandchild, or anyone's child," said Moran. "It's just not within my personality to expose any child to a perilous situation. It's unfortunate that some parents might disagree."

Moran went on to say that the site, which is owned by the Orleans Parish School Board, was chosen because school officials were unable to find another location large enough for the classroom modulars needed to accommodate hundreds of children who attend Audubon Charter School.

"It is not our intent to make [parents] feel uncomfortable, but unfortunately we really have no options," said Moran. "We've gone so far as to discuss with the Recovery School District to give back a building that they're not using so we could use that as "swing space" and not have to spend this much capital in temporary modulars, but unfortunately they could not acommodate(sic) us. This is the only solution we had at hand."

Concerned parents started an online petition Monday asking that the entire area be remediated with new soil and concrete.

"We're just trying to urge them to really look at the site, face the facts about the lead levels there, and really, remediate the entire place," said Piñera.

Parents also say they've never been formally notified the school is relocating for the next two years.

There were no links to the petition to the OPSD in WWL's report, which can be found at this link.  Lead is in most places in the ground in this town, to be sure, but the city is taking steps to remediate public playgrounds.  For the OPSD to keep the school at this site, however, they need to start the mitigation process now, for the entire site.

Over 900 more signatures are needed.  Give it a read, at least.