Asbestos troubles close oakland school permanently

June 10, 2008, Oakland, Pennsylvania â€" Students at Schenley High School in Oakland won’t be returning after the summer: the school is closing down, forever, due to the need for repairs which would cost more than the school can afford. The renovation costs have been driven up significantly by the presence of asbestos which needs to be removed, and there just isn’t enough money in the budget to repair the 92-year-old high school building. Many students are upset that they won’t be returning to the high school after the summer. Instead, they’ll be temporarily relocated to another nearby school. Use of asbestos in construction and renovation materials was widespread between the 1940s and 1980s. Older buildings, including schools, which undergo renovation or demolition must be treated with caution due to the likelihood that asbestos is present. Due to the health risks involved in asbestos exposure, work with or around the substance is tightly regulated and there are several laws and requirements that control how asbestos-containing materials and buildings must be handled. These requirements tend to significantly increase the costs of any renovation or demolition involving asbestos. In the case of the Schenley High School and other buildings which contain asbestos materials, there are two factors that significantly increase the costs of renovation. The first is that the asbestos must be treated with extreme caution, and special procedures must be used when handling or removing the substance. This requires licensed professionals who are trained to handle asbestos, and often means tight school budgets are stretched even further by the need to hire licensed asbestos contractors. The second factor is that disposal of asbestos-containing construction waste is up to three times more expensive than disposal of non-hazardous waste, due to the necessity of disposing of the material at a landfill that is equipped to handle hazardous materials. If asbestos waste must be removed, its disposal pushes up the costs of renovations hugely. The issue of asbestos in schools is likely to become an increasingly widespread problem. Asbestos was used in a variety of building materials between the 1940s and 1980s, due to the substance’s excellence as a fire-retardant, insulator, and acoustic barrier. As asbestos-containing materials age, repairs and renovations may cause disturbance to asbestos materials. These types of disturbances can potentially present a health hazard if proper procedures are not followed to limit exposure. To deal with asbestos in schools, the EPA requires that all schools that contain asbestos maintain a management plan that details the location of asbestos, its condition, and the measures taken to prevent exposure. In schools where asbestos is present, parents and school employees can request to see a copy of the asbestos management plan at any time. For some schools, such as Schenley High School, however, simply managing the asbestos just isn’t an efficient way to deal with the problem. Many more schools are likely to face similar issues in the future, as the costs of managing asbestos become prohibitive. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)