Lead has been found in the drinking water at Ordway Elementary, officials with the Bainbridge Island School District told parents in an email sent Monday night.

Students and staff have been told to not drink water from taps at the school, and bottled water is being brought in.

In the email, signed by Superintendent Faith A. Chapel and Tamela Van Winkle, the district’s director of facilities, the district said it was not sure of the health risks the contaminated water has posed to students. The district is advising worried parents of students to take their children to the doctor.

“The health implications of the water test results are unclear at this point in our investigation,” Chapel and Van Winkle wrote in the email. “Additional sampling and analysis is needed and is underway. We recommend that any parents who are concerned about health problems in their child see their primary health care provider for evaluation.”

Water samples at the school were collected during winter break, which ended Jan. 1.

The district said initial results from tests showed “elevated lead levels in nine water fixtures at Ordway.”

District officials said corrective actions were done “immediately” and that water fixtures were taken out of service and lines were flushed.

The district has not specifically said when those actions were taken, or how long students, staff and others have been exposed to lead-tainted water at the school.

The district said the corrective actions resulted in “normal levels at eight of the nine fixtures that had been serviced.”

Additional testing was conducted, and new test results found more widespread water contamination at the school.

New test results were received Monday, Feb. 29.

“The new results detected elevated lead levels in 23 fixtures, 21 of which passed the initial screening. The results ranged from 20 parts per billion (the corrective action level for schools) to 384 parts per billion. This information was obviously of great concern to us, especially due to the inconsistent results and high levels in some fixtures,” the district said.

District officials said they have talked at length with state and county health officials about the problem.

“The district is working closely with the [Department of Health], the Kitsap Public Health District and the City of Bainbridge Island to investigate the situation. Next steps include conducting additional tests of the water system to evaluate potential sources of the elevated lead levels and inconsistent results. Once the source(s) have been identified, we will communicate that information and will immediately work to mitigate all issues,” the district’s email said.

Students and staff have been told to drink only bottled water “until further notice.”

District officials also said signs that say “DO NOT DRINK WATER” will be posted at Ordway.

Bainbridge Islanders posted comments of concern on Facebook over the announcement.

Some said it appeared the school district was handling the crisis appropriately, but others raised concerns about the district finding out about the problem in December but not notifying the public until this week.

“This is awful,” one islander wrote on Facebook. “I have 5 little children at Ordway!!!!!! I just talked to my kids and asked if they’d been instructed not to drink the water and they said “No, I drank a bunch today from the water fountain. They never told us anything. Some of the water fountains say ‘out of order.’”

“I was very disappointed that the school district found this out in December and handled it in secrecy and thought they never had to notify families,” added another. “If there is anything that may affect our children’s well being in the slightest, we need to be notified immediately, not months later when it has gotten even worse.”

District officials were not immediately available for comment when contacted by the Review early Tuesday.