BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Latonia Elementary School parents can start to breathe easy -- the air at the school got a clean bill of health Friday and school officials said employees are getting the training they need to handle asbestos.
That's the good news. The bad news is that exactly when students will return -- beyond one day next week -- and how much the cleanup will cost have not been determined.
Superintendent James Kemp said school officials will conduct a briefing Monday and set up a meeting to answer parents' questions. The school has been closed since Sept. 30.
The price tag for busing students who normally would not be bused, paying for food delivery, leasing Northern Kentucky University's Covington campus for classes and obtaining additional asbestos training for staff is expected to be steep.
District policies regarding asbestos were in place but were not followed at Latonia, officials conceded, so 120 Covington Schools employees attended an asbestos workshop last week to prevent similar mishaps.
State law requires that each district employ someone knowledgeable in asbestos management and that each school have a copy of the district's asbestos management plan. Each building also is required to keep a written record of asbestos-related incidents.
Not all of those things were happening.
"There were certain inadequacies," Mr. Kemp said. "There was a point when it was not clear who the district contact was. And there were inadequacies in terms of the paperwork required in the plan."
Mr. Kemp said those problems have been fixed. Don Shelton, director of operations, has received all required asbestos training; and asbestos management plans at Latonia are now complete.
The cleaning process used to remove asbestos particles from the air left books and supplies out of place. Teachers and staff must put things back in order before students are allowed to return.
"Everything was removed from the desks and cleaned. It's all out on top of student's desks," said Mike Strine, with ATC Associates in Cincinnati, the company that did the asbestos testing and evaluation. "Library shelves were cleared from top to bottom. Every book was cleaned."
Parent Phillip Gaines said he was glad that his two sons, third-grader Michael and kindergartner Jeremy, can return to their school. "It's definitely welcome news. It's been sort of a hassle," Mr. Gaines said. "But I'm surprised they got the building cleaned so fast."
Attendance at the NKU campus has been 94 percent, which is the normal attendance rate for Latonia students, Mr. Kemp said.
The Latonia building was closed after parents saw asbestos-warning signs in the school and district officials determined there was a danger of breathing asbestos dust in the air.
Asbestos in the ceiling tiles, concrete walls and a door were disturbed by contractors installing wiring for Internet access. The contractors were working at night in the school since Sept. 21. Since that time, various agencies and businesses used fans to stir up asbestos dust, filtered the dust out of the air and tested air samples. More than 20 workers spent 12-hour days cleaning the building.
Heating and air-conditioning ducts and all rooms on both floors were cleaned. There was no asbestos abatement or removal of materials containing asbestos. The mineral is a health hazard only in dust form.
The most recent test of 10 air samples showed readings below the clearance standard of 70 asbestos particles per square millimeter of filter.
The average for the 10 tests was less than 25 asbestos particles per piece of filter and no sample exceeded 50 asbestos pieces per millimeter. Readings ranged from 14 to 50.
"The air in the school meets standards," said John Hornback, Division of Air Quality director. "We took more samples than the law requires. No further analysis is needed."
The entire school was cleaned three times, Mr. Strine said. The process his company completed is what is usually done when there is large-scale asbestos removal in a building.
The Internet wiring project that caused the problems is now on hold until next summer when school is out of session, Mr. Kemp said.
