The Philadelphia school district has announced a new environmental safety plan that calls for a quicker response to asbestos concerns in school buildings and better communication with affected communities.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the announcement comes as pressure is mounting on the district to better handle environmental concerns in the many of its aging school buildings. Asbestos was found this summer at the building that houses both Benjamin Franklin High School and Science Leadership Academy, at Meredith Elementary, and at T.M. Peirce Elementary.
“Everything we’ve done hasn’t been enough,” schools Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. says. “We have made mistakes and fallen short of my expectations in key areas, and have not fully confronted many of the challenges we have faced.”
Hite says the district is now “fully committed" to a plan that calls for all asbestos reports to be investigated within 24 hours. He also promises to have more training on asbestos risks.
Of the $500 million the district recently borrowed as part of its regular capital project cycle, $12 million will be earmarked to deal with asbestos abatement. Hite acknowledges that amount will fall far short of what is needed to tackle all known lead and asbestos issues in a school system where the average building is more than 70 years old.
It would take an additional $150 million in operating funds to fix all the asbestos and lead problems in the district, Hite says. The school board cannot raise revenue itself; it will have to look to the state and to City Hall for those additional funds.
As Hite spoke, plans were being made to move students and staff out of T.M. Peirce Elementary. The district also is relocating preschoolers away from the Pratt School, which was closed as an elementary school building in 2013 but kept open to house early childhood education.
The district had first recommended Peirce students be relocated to Pratt, a proposal it withdrew after the teachers’ union raised concerns about asbestos at Pratt. The district said at the time that it was unaware of those environmental concerns.
Peirce students are instead likely to be moved to rental space at the site of the former Eastern University Academy Charter School. Peirce parents have toured the site, and students could be moved there as soon as Dec. 2.
