Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco has acknowledged rising concerns from parents about the results of recent soil testing, which found 18 district sites with elevated levels of heavy metals.

Sites that tested for at least one area with elevated levels were: Allendale Elementary School, Altadena Arts Magnet, Blair High School, Field Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School, John Muir High School, Longfellow Magnet School, Madison Elementary School, Thurgood Marshall Secondary School, Octavia E. Butler Magnet, San Rafael Elementary School, Washington Elementary STEM Magnet School, Webster Elementary School, Cleveland Elementary School, Hodges Center, LaCasita Campus, the District Service Center and the district’s main office.

The PUSD conducted its own soil testing after a Los Angeles County study found elevated levels of lead in the soil of standing homes downwind of the Eaton fire. Subsequent phases of the study also found elevated lead levels at homes where debris had been cleared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In her message Sunday, Blanco acknowledged the concerns raised by parents and the public in response to the results that included elevated levels of lead, arsenic, chromium, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins/furans.

“While some PUSD soil test samples exceeded California state lead screening levels, most were at levels where the risk to human health is minimal, especially when public health safety precautions are followed,” Pasadena Public Health Department acting Health Officer Dr. Parveen Kaur said in Blanco’s statement. “In areas that exceeded the screening level, common sense measures such as restricting access and adding ground cover will reduce potential risk of exposure.”

USC professor of Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies Josh West said one of the biggest challenges around this type of soil testing is determining whether contaminants in soil found post-fire can be attributed to the fire or prior contamination.

“Without data from before the fires, we can’t really tell how much of the lead in soil at a given site came from the fires or was already there,” West said in an email. “For context, there are a lot of sites across the L.A. area with elevated lead in soils, because of the history of contamination from leaded gasoline, paint and industry.”

Blair High School’s results showed some of the highest lead levels reported despite being in the southern part of Pasadena and away from the burn scar.

“It is not a surprise at all that a school near the 110 Freeway would have high soil lead, and my guess — though it’s very hard to prove this — is that it has nothing at all to do with the fires (or at least very very little),” West said.

Blanco said some test results are still pending and that campus maps will be updated with additional results. The district has restricted access to areas on campuses with contaminated soil, and Blanco asked the community to not disturb the soil at any campus or take any action to cover it with mulch or compost.

The following steps will be taken in response to the results, Blanco said:

Outdoor areas with affected soil will be closed and clearly marked and secured to prevent access.

Any necessary remediation will be completed before the new school year starts.

More testing will be done before and during the necessary remediation process.

“We know how important outdoor spaces are to our students for play, for connection and for learning,” Blanco said. “And we know how unsettling it can feel when those spaces are in question.”

West said the heavy metals found in PUSD soil do not just go away over time without mitigation efforts. They are different than ash and dust, which had a high concentration in January but started to decrease after rain in February.

After mitigation, West said, the timeline for soil to be safe depends on various factors, and even if metals are addressed, the soil could still contain organic contaminants.

His message to parents was to emphasize washing hands after playing outside, not eating with dirty hands and not tracking dirt into the home.

“When I look at these data, I am encouraged,” West said. “I would have guessed that this is broadly similar to what you might expect from schools in the L.A. area independent of the fires.”