Test Results Show Radon Levels at Boulder Hill Not a Cause For Concern

When students enter next week, parents can rest assured the radon levels in the facility will not pose a health risk to students, teachers and staff.

Patrick Daniels, head of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency’s radon program, discussed the results of a radon test of the entire school building during a special meeting of the School Board on Thursday night.

He said radon at the school was at “very reasonable, low levels.”

“My recommendation is that there is no further action necessary,” Daniels said.

The issue of radon at Boulder Hill came to a head after two radon tests were conducted in May and June by David Sloman, a contractor hired by architecture firm Wight and Co. Sloman, it was later revealed, was not licensed by the state to perform radon tests, and performed them incorrectly, with the HVAC system shut down.

Daniels said those first two tests, which found high radon levels in five of the school’s classrooms, should be considered invalid and discarded. A third test, performed in July by Radon Detection Specialists, found no radon levels above the state standard, and Daniels said that is the only valid test result he has seen.

District leaders hired two companies—Radon Detection Specialists of Burr Ridge and RadonTesters Inc. of Wheaton—to perform the tests, which they did over the last three days.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends taking action when levels reach 4.0 picocuries per liter of air.

During the recent testing at Boulder Hill, hour-by-hour average radon levels in the five classrooms came in at 2.8 picocuries per liter of air.

“No room indicated there was any need for any type of radon reduction activities,” Daniels said.

There was a point during the testing, at about 1:35 a.m., when Daniels said one classroom reached 4.0 picocuries per liter of air. He said that was due to the school’s HVAC system running on night mode.

“The naturally occurring conditions dropped,” he said. “The next hour (the radon level) dropped back down to 1.4.”

He said the reading did not warrant taking action.

During a meeting held Wednesday night at Boulder Hill to discuss the radon testing, Daniels explained how radon forms—it’s a natural by-product of the decay of uranium in the soil—and how it seeps into our houses and buildings—the pressure differences outside and inside create a vacuum that sucks radon out of the ground and traps it.

Radon has been definitively linked to lung cancer, since it attaches itself to dust particles, which are then breathed in. Radon exposure has been named the No. 2 cause of lung cancer in the country, behind smoking, but Daniels said it takes long-term exposure—as in years—for radon to build up to harmful levels in the lungs.

Radon has not been definitively linked to any other form of cancer, Daniels said.

He said it is impossible to make any building “radon-proof.” The atmosphere contains at least some amount of radon at all times, he said.

Since people spend most indoor time in their own homes, Daniels said, those are the most important places to check for radon. More than half the homes in Kendall County have failed radon tests, meaning they have returned results above the federal and state standard, he said.

During Thursday's meeting, at the urging of Board Member Allison Swanson, school officials decided, in addition to testing all the buildings in the district, they would test Boulder Hill again this winter and next spring as a precaution.

“I would still like to clarify this one before we just put it to rest,” she said.

While parent Roseanne Hoban is pleased with the plan that has been implemented, she said there needs to be better communication between District 308 and fellow parents.

“I never received a message that elevated levels of radon were found in five of the classrooms,” she said. “I know the school district did not want to cause panic among parents when not enough was known. But we are mature and we know how to listen to facts. A simple notification of events should have been communicated.”

Hoban said because of the situation, she has faith “the administration has learned from this experience and will from this point forward communicate openly and honestly with all the parents involved.”

Results from the tests are posted on the district's website.