Two Philadelphia schools that share a campus will remain shut down for an unknown amount of time because of asbestos concerns.
KYW-TV reports that the district will move students of Benjamin Franklin High School and Science Leadership Academy (SLA) to other locations while tests are conducted in the facilities.
Students will be off again on Monday and Tuesday. All schools are closed Wednesday for Yom Kippur, and on Thursday, students of the schools will be relocated to other campuses.
A walk-through last week of the building shared by the two schools led to the uncovering of asbestos in ductwork in the boiler room. Staff and students have not had access to the building since last week.
On Wednesday, 12 additional samples from the building were submitted for lab testing.
“This extended closure will enable abatement and retesting to happen in the SLA Common Area," said School District of Philadelphia COO Danielle Floyd. "The boiler room, which is located on an unoccupied sub-basement floor, will be sealed off from the rest of the building, and abatement in that area will also begin."
Several teachers who did not want to be identified say they fear more asbestos will be uncovered.
Breakfast and lunch will be handed out to students in need on Monday and Tuesday.
