Fellowship Story Showcase
Despite recent cleanups, Philadelphia schools still expose kids and teachers to asbestos
Toxic City is supported by grants from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism, and the Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism.
Other stories in this series include:
How the ‘Toxic City’ investigation has protected Philadelphia children from environmental perils
Solving the mystery of Room 106
New test: 10.7 million asbestos fibers on floor at Philadelphia elementary school
Danger: Learn at your own risk
In booming Philadelphia neighborhoods, lead-poisoned soil is resurfacing
State Sen. Hughes finds money to help fight Philly's lead paint scourge
The Inquirer
Monday, December 17, 2018
After the successful cleanup of more than half a dozen schools, and with 38 more planned, the School District of Philadelphia is getting accolades for its aggressive, revamped efforts to protect students from lead paint.
Now, city lawmakers and advocates for healthy schools are urging district officials to apply the lessons learned from lead-paint remediation and tackle an equally pressing crisis: asbestos.
“We know it’s a big issue. Let’s start working on a plan,” said Councilman-at-Large Derek Green. “Just like we did with lead, let’s be proactive with asbestos as well."
The district continues to falter with asbestos abatement, hampered by limited resources and an ineffective strategy for safeguarding kids and teachers from exposure to the cancer-causing fibers. Recently obtained documents, photos, and emails reveal a district that triages asbestos-related emergencies and blunders, rather than apply comprehensive reforms.
In the wake of the Inquirer’s “Toxic City: Sick Schools” investigation, the district spent the summer inspecting and cleaning up seven elementary schools where the newspaper found alarming levels of asbestos fibers. As an added precaution, the district, alongside environmental experts with the teachers' union, tested the air for any lingering fibers. In some cases, they re-cleaned after air tests failed.
“All areas passed the re-occupancy criteria … and are safe for students and staff,” the district announced in September.
But not really.
At two of the seven schools, the district quickly found itself scrambling to clean up new asbestos contamination. On Sept. 18, district officials discovered damaged asbestos insulation in a school auditorium that was just cleaned and reopened to students. On Oct. 8, a building engineer trainee stripped insulation from a steam pipe and left asbestos debris on the floor of a sixth-grade classroom. The room was just down the hall from an area where samples taken by the newspaper had found a staggering 10.7 million asbestos fibers four months earlier.
At another elementary school that was not one of the seven, an asbestos-removal crew in July said its repairs were done and a district-hired environmental consultant deemed the areas safe. But asbestos fibers, dust, and debris were left strewed across classroom floors, records show.
These incidents mirror problems first pointed out in “Toxic City” this past spring: inadequate training of maintenance workers, shoddy work by contractors, and poor oversight of their work.
Asbestos can be found all over schools built before 1980: wrapped around heating pipes and air ducts as insulation, sprayed on ceilings as soundproofing, and woven into floor tiles.
Kept intact, asbestos is not dangerous. But once damaged, microscopic asbestos fibers can become airborne and float for hours. If inhaled, they can, decades later, cause mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer.
Elementary and middle school teachers, along with building maintenance staff, rank near the top among the professions most at risk for asbestos-related disease, research show. Children are at increased risk for exposure because they are more active, their breathing rate is higher than adults, and they spend more time close to floors where fibers can accumulate, according to a new federal report.
“It is very important to not underestimate the very real cancer exposure that could happen for children who are exposed in a school and perhaps repeatedly over the course of being there for six years or more,” said Marilyn Howarth, a physician and the director of community outreach and engagement at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology.
To protect Philadelphia district students and staff from the perils of asbestos, building engineers and custodians must operate, in effect, as first responders.
But if an October incident at Olney Elementary is any guide, the district is still placing kids in danger. There, a building engineer trainee ripped a loose three-foot section of asbestos insulation from a steam pipe in a sixth-grade classroom, leaving behind debris.