Preschool Workers, Kids Tested for Lead

City health officials are examining children for possible lead exposure after recent tests found soil and work-surface contamination at a city-owned recreation and preschool facility.

Test results from 14 preschoolers and two employees who worked at the Long Beach Model Boat Shop have produced no evidence of lead exposure, city health officer Darryl Sexton said. The health department is also testing 14 more preschoolers and 10% of the nearly 300 children who constructed model boats at the site over the past two summers, Sexton said.

City parks and recreation officials ordered lead contamination tests at the boat shop in August after a parent complained that children were filing lead moldings as part of a model-boat construction program, city recreation Supt. Jana Ransom said.

Officials halted the summer model-building program and closed the 60-year-old boat shop near the Colorado Lagoon at 5119 Colorado St. when test results showed lead contamination above acceptable state and federal levels. No contamination was reported in the air.

Classes at the Colorado Lagoon Preschool Co-op had been scheduled to resume after summer break, but were relocated to Whaley Park at 5620 Atherton St. until environmental tests are complete. The preschool had rented the model boat shop from the city since 1947.

Sexton said he was optimistic the facility could be cleaned up and reopened.

“The facility can be used again,” Sexton said. “This is not like radiation.” He noted, however, that recreation officials will have to find an alternative metal for the keels.

Lead exposure only poses risks when it is ingested, Sexton said. If it is, it can be especially dangerous to children under 6 years old, possibly leading to brain and kidney damage and even death, he said.