Wasn’t that bizarre about a McPherson elementary school being ranked in the first percentile of having poor air quality?

The report was conducted by USA Today and the study basically was conducted on paper by measuring the distances of possible pollutants from schools.

The study cited Roosevelt Elementary School’s close proximity to a chrome plating facility which was listed as the area’s largest contributor to toxic air.

When the owner of the chrome plating company was contacted, he said the company was not allowed to emit those toxins in the air.

An EPA spokesman said the data must be taken with a grain of salt because the newspaper’s testing methods and data did not take into account real-life situations.

School officials also dismissed the study, stating EPA would have informed them if there was a problem.

Even the newspaper admitted there may be some flaws in the system because the “data used in the model was based on estimates submitted by companies.” And there could be “clerical errors or flawed interpretations.”

In this same report, Marion County schools districts were listed as follows:

• Centre — 94th percentile.
• Goessel — 70th and 72nd percentiles.
• Hillsboro — 82nd percentile.
• Marion — 92nd percentile.
• Peabody-Burns — 72nd and 73rd percentiles.

So, even on paper, Marion County has clean air.

— susan berg