Cindy Michelini is taking it personally. The rest of us should take it personally, too.

The Summit Elementary School water scandal has caused strife not only to the parents of students exposed to water tainted with lead and copper, but also to the teachers like Michelini, entrusted with the care of the children.

“I decorate my classroom with sunbeams,” the fourth-grade teacher told Butler School Board a week ago. “They remind the children to be aware of their surroundings; I tell them, ‘If you see something, say something.’”

Michelini is one of the few who had the courage to stand up and talk publicly about it.

Her point: For 118 days, something wasn’t right at Summit, and nobody said a thing. They all remembered the water being shut off for two days in September. They remembered the briefing about lead in the water at the board meeting the following month.

But for 118 days, thirsty children returned from gym or the playground and asked, “May I get a drink of water?” And Michelini and other teachers replied, of course you may.

They made their own coffee with that water. Some made Kool-Aid with it for their students.

Now it’s a scandal. The district’s maintenance supervisor has been suspended, alleged to have ignored state directives to address the lead/copper contamination.

Michelini’s students, whom she reminds frequently if they “see something” to “say something,” see bags stamped “out of order” placed over the water fountains. They wash hands in portable sinks stocked with water brought in from the outside. They see faucets turned off in their restrooms and classrooms.

What do they say to these disturbing images?

And the teachers agonize along with the parents because children were exposed to a health risk that should have been prevented. Why didn’t someone figure it out sooner? Why didn’t they figure it out or, at least, why didn’t they say something when something didn’t seem right?

There’s an additional consideration. Every teacher — every school employee, in fact — is considered a mandated reporter. State child protective services law requires a school employee to report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect.

These laws were revised and strengthened in 2014 in the wake of the Penn State-Jerry Sandusky scandal. Changes in the law included provisions for expanded training and awareness of safe environments for children.

Under the revised law, a school employee must report any observation immediately to appropriate state or county child-care agency officials. The employee also must immediately inform a superior, such as an administrator, or designated agent, who is responsible for facilitating “the cooperation of the ... school with the investigation of the report.”

The law also stipulates that any intimidation, retaliation or obstruction in the investigation of the report is a punishable offense.

Does this incident constitute child abuse or neglect?

The state penal code broadly defines child abuse as any act “which causes nonaccidental serious physical injury, sexual abuse/exploitation, serious physical neglect constituting prolonged or repeated lack of supervision or failure to provide essentials of life.”

Were any children seriously injured because of lead or copper in the water at Summit? Were any of these injuries considered nonaccidental? Is there evidence that an investigation might have been delayed or discouraged?

These are be central questions to be answered in two pending investigations, one by an independent counsel and the other by Pennsylvania State Police at the direction of District Attorney Richard Goldinger.

We look forward to their findings, as painful as the findings might be.