Libby looks for new school after asbestos scare at elementary school

LIBBY, Montana â€" Parents attended a special school meeting Monday afternoon after an asbestos leak was repaired at the Asa Wood Elementary School last week. Children at recess had discovered the hole in the outer wall, and alerted teachers. Inspection revealed that vermiculite spilling from the hole contains asbestos. The school system and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were right on top of things. The hole was repaired and the asbestos cleaned up quickly after the school reported the problem. However, many of the parents at the school department meeting were concerned that another asbestos exposure incident could happen. Libby schools have been an area of concern before. Early on in the Libby cleanup process, workers dug up the athletic track at Libby High School and the community skating rink at the Plummer School because both contained asbestos, and the EPA had planned on doing follow-up air quality tests in the Libby schools this year. Libby, site of the old W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine, is one of the EPA’s cleanup sites. The mine was contaminated with asbestos, and operations there blasted tons of asbestos fibers into the air. In the years since the mine operations halted, over 1,200 people from Libby have been diagnosed with asbestos related illnesses. While the EPA’s cleanup teams removed the track and the rink, they had not removed asbestos from inside the school structures. Now parents are wondering about the possibility of building at least one new school. School superintendent Kirby Maki stated that the vermiculite in the walls is not the only issue with the schools. The ‘baby boom’ in Libby has made it clear that the town has a need for more school space. The Asa Wood school, for instance, was designed as a junior high, and not for younger students. However, the size of the incoming classes made it necessary for the town to move fourth graders to the middle school. Maki encouraged parents to form a committee to investigate the need for a new school facility. He said that it would be best to do construction while the EPA is still in town. There are other schools already looking to expand in the area. Whitefish High School is looking to raise a $21.5 million bond for their school, and in Bigfork, voters will decide whether to approve an $11 million bond request for school construction. Among the options the parents will explore is whether or not W.R. Grace or the government might be a source of funding for replacing the old asbestos-tainted school. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)