FRANKLIN — Two Franklin elementary schools will be closed on Thursday after environmental testing results showed higher than recommended levels of contaminants.
Needham and Webb elementary school students will have an eLearning day, instead of attending school. All other Franklin schools will be operating as normal.
"As recommended by EnviroForensics, Franklin Community Schools requested a second round of sampling be conducted during the winter," the school system said in a press release that went out on Wednesday. "Samples of air were taken from below the concrete floor at Needham Elementary and Webb Elementary and sent to a lab for analysis."
Franklin schools received the preliminary results from those tests on Wednesday. The school says three out of seven samples from Webb and two out of 10 samples from Needham were above the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's screening levels.
"Student and staff safety is our number one priority. Out of an abundance of caution, FCS will be implementing an E-Learning Day tomorrow, March 21, for Needham Elementary and Webb Elementary. During spring break, EnviroForensics will be conducting additional sampling," the release says.
Franklin Community Schools says they will provide an update to parents on Thursday, March 28, prior to students returning from Spring Break.
