Family Services Director Tom Morton says lead in the turf at Child Haven was no secret. Some Clark County employees knew, the county managers knew and the contractors who replaced it knew.
So who didn't? Most of the 100 or so people who use the facility everyday for court-ordered family visits.
Emails reveal the faux lawn beneath the play area at the county's shelter for abused and neglected children contained high levels of lead. The county's Safety and Environmental Division advised, "For precautionary sake... Please do not let the children play on this turf."
"It is our belief based on what we've been told that the exposure the children may have had while here does not constitute a reason for concern," said Morton.
Yet concern about potential exposure to the county, not the children, dominates more than half a dozen emails exchanged among county staff. Child Haven Interim Manager Jolie Courtney instructs nine DFS employees to keep the lead content confidential because "We don't want people to think their child may have gotten lead poisoning at Child Haven." She goes on to write, "If anyone asks, just tell them that we are redoing that area as part of the Beazer Cottage restoration."
"This is a semantics issue. She said if people ask, tell them that we're renovating Beazer and that's why it was cordoned off," said Morton.
But that's not why the area was cordoned off. "I think one error in language doesn't constitute complete malfeasance of duty," said Morton.
Morton admits he was unaware of the email until the I-Team requested it. In a written statement, Courtney herself explains, "My email was an attempt to prevent staff from causing an unwarranted panic. I apologize for the way my email was worded."
Morton says he never directed the staff to tell the truth about the turf and no future emails exist suggesting additional direction from Courtney. However, Morton points out, not every communication occurs online.
Further complicating matters is a disagreement between Morton's Communications Officer Christine Skorupski and that of the county manager. Email records indicate Skorupski advocated a public media release, only to be silenced at the Government Center.
"I'm saying if the public communications officers tells us that there is no need to make a disclosure, then we don't have the authority -- not disclosure -- that's not the right word, to make a press release out of it," said Morton.
Though the county insists the turf posed minimal risk, it moved quickly to isolate the area, remove the material and replace it with a lead-free product.
Limited research exists about the risk of exposure to lead in artificial turf, though the Center's for Disease Control identifies children under the age of six as the most likely to be affected.
Like mini-blinds, prolonged exposure to heat and sun degrades the material, releasing the lead as dust. Kids get the dust on their toys, on their hands, and then put their hands in their mouth and can be exposed.
The CDC recommends lead testing for all children under the age of six. In Clark County, foster kids are screened when they first enter the child welfare system as part of a federally mandated medical exam. So far, according to the county, there have been no positive lead tests.
