PUSD Still Without Indoor Contaminant Testing 12 Months After Eaton Fire

On 9/30 EFSN featured an interview with PUSD Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco and School Board President Jennifer Hall Lee; the recording can be viewed here. When asked why PUSD schools have yet to receive indoor contaminant testing, Superintendent Blanco responded that they are following the protocols set by their insurance provider and are in correspondence with the EPA and DTSC, framing it as a matter beyond her control. Yet LAUSD did a full array of indoor testing in February 2025 for schools adjacent to the Palisades Fire. 

Superintendent Blanco went on to conflate chipped-paint abatement standards with lead-contamination abatement from wildfire. At one point, she stated that because schools have not been permitted to use lead-based paint for some time, the lead levels in school facilities are likely lower than those found in homes in the area impacted by wildfire debris. Nine months after the fire, it should be clear that what causes lead paint hazards and wildfire-deposited lead are fundamentally different, and so are the abatement processes. PUSD schools continue to have no actual indoor contaminant testing since the Eaton Fire.