Mokelumne river school founder responds to asbestos fears

March 17, 2008, Lodi, California â€" At the end of February, asbestos was discovered on the grounds of Mokelumne River School. Over the last few weeks, the school has become a battleground, with teachers, board members, staff, and parents at odds with one another after allegations over the conduct of the co-founder of the school, Clifford Goehring. Since the discovery of asbestos at the school, several school board members, as well as the school’s vice principal, have been fired or ‘asked to leave’ by Clifford Goehring. The school board members say they were removed after accusing Goehring of misconduct over the handling of the asbestos situation, and asking Goehring himself to resign from his position as head of the school board. The board members had said that Goehring failed to properly notify students, parents, and members of the board of the asbestos discovery, in a reasonable amount of time. Some parents even believed that the school’s founder had deliberately covered up the discovery of the asbestos. Clifford Goehring has denied all cover-up allegations, but has admitted that the situation could have been handled better. Goehring claimed that the school board members had issued an ultimatumâ€"that either Goehring step down as president of the board, or the members would leaveâ€"and Goehring had assumed all the board members would resign, as he himself refused to step down. Goehring did admit to firing vice principal Nadine Zerbe, however Goehring claims this was done because there had been plans underway to downsize the school’s administration, and was not carried out as a result of the asbestos incident. The problem of asbestos in schools will become an increasingly important issue. Asbestos was widely used in schools, particularly between the 1940s and 1980s, as a fire-retardant, insulator, and acoustic barrier in many different types of building materials. As these materials age, repairs and renovations may cause disturbance to asbestos materials, which in turn may present a health hazard.. To deal with the problem of asbestos in schools, the Environmental Protection Agency requires that all schoolsâ€"whether public, private, or charterâ€"which contain asbestos maintain a management plan that details the location of asbestos in the school, and the measures that are taken to ensure the safety of all who attend the school. Parents and school employees can request to see a copy of their school’s asbestos management plan at any time. As for Mokelumne River School, asbestos remediation is underway in affected areas. Mokelumne River Superintendent Shannon Woodward says that the affected classrooms should be made available to students within two weeks from the start of the abatement project, depending on the results of follow-up air quality tests that will be carried out after remediation is completed. Clifford Goehring estimates the cost at around $50,000. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)