In Nebraska, it’s nearly impossible to hide from radon. The cancer-causing chemical, caused by the decay of uranium, is unusually prevalent in the Cornhusker State. In fact, Nebraska has the third-highest radon rates in the country.

“It’s a real problem,” Doug Gillespie with the Department of Health and Human Services said. The CDC estimates it kills about 21,000 people a year.

“It’s the biggest reason for individuals who don’t smoke, to develop lung cancer,” he said.

But radon doesn’t have to be deadly. It can be tested for, and in nearly all cases, mitigated to non-dangerous levels. However, to mitigate, you have to know it’s there.

regarding the most recent radon tests for every school in the Lincoln Public Schools district. With students going to school six-to-eight hours a day, 180 days a year, we wanted to check the last time each of LPS’s 61 schools was tested. For a nearly $300 charge, we were provided with the documents.

“I think we do a good job,” Scott Wieskamp, Director of Operations for LPS, said in regards to testing. “Could we do a better job? We probably could.”

Twelve schools in the district had no record of ever being tested. Nineteen other schools hadn’t been tested in at least 25 years. When asked about this, the district said it randomly tests five to eight schools a year. If this were the case, on average, every school would be tested about once every 8-to-12 years.

“I don’t know if I have a good reason for that,” Wieskamp said. “The fact we’re having this conversation will help us to re-evaluate that.”

Radon is tested based on picocuries per liter. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends action if there is a radon test above 4.0 pCi/L.

Of the 49 schools with test results, all had more than one test and some had dozens. Nearly all of the most recent results had levels well below 4.0 pCi/L, however, 11 schools did have at least one test that registered above the 4.0 pCi/L action threshold. Again, 10/11 asked for the most recent test results, which would indicate, if the district did mitigate the radon, it was not re-tested.

When asked why, Wieskamp said it had to do with cost and

“If we knew we had facilities that were critical, based on testing, we’d be mitigating immediately," Wieskamp said.

In Nebraska, there are no requirements when it comes to radon testing in schools. The EPA has no specific re-testing recommendations. However, it does offer advice when it comes to personal homes: you should test every two years.

According to documents provided by LPS, 31 of the 61 school buildings have either never been tested or haven’t been tested in at least 25 years. That’s a rate of 51-percent.

“It would be great to say we could test every building, every year,” Wieskamp said. “But we don’t have the time or the money to do that with the other environmental concerns.”

Since our record's request, LPS followed up with tests at five schools: Lux, Rousseau, Campbell, Pound and Eastridge. Of the more than 300 tests, all were below 4.0 pCi/L, and with the exception of one, all were below 2.0 pCi/L. Lux Middle School was also one of the schools that had no record of ever being tested, leaving the total of non-tested schools now at 11.