Mesothelioma News: Students Return after Asbestos Abatement

Mesothelioma News: Students Return to School after Asbestos Abatement – March 2016

California’s Ocean View School District shutdown three schools some two years ago. This was as a result of the discovery of asbestos in the school buildings and the need for asbestos abatement. The affected schools were Hope View Elementary, Oak View Elementary and Lake View Elementary. While the move to shut down the schools was in the best interest of staff and students; it displaced some one thousand six hundred (1600) students. These students had to commute some eighteen (18) miles to attend other schools.

Earlier in March 2016, younger students of Oak View Elementary school returned to their regular school after the school was opened. Older students at Oak View Elementary returned to portable classrooms as a result of asbestos found in ceiling tiles. Hope View Elementary school students returned to school in September 2015. However, Lake View elementary still remains closed.

During the school closure the following activities were done:

• Asbestos abatement – which the safe removal of asbestos from a building
• Renovations
• Replacement of carpeting, flooring and lighting
• Landscaping of the perimeter of the buildings

The school district used the opportunity of the school closures for asbestos abatement, to change the buildings of the schools as financing was secured. One parent commented, “It’s open, it’s beautiful; definitely much more renewed than it was before”. The cost of asbestos abatement and improvements for these three ‘beautiful and renewed’ schools will be about eighteen million dollars ($18 million) to be paid by the School District. Most of the funds were sourced from the emergency fund while loans were secured with property taken as surety.

Why Asbestos Abatement?

The discovery of asbestos in schools and old buildings is as a result of asbestos having been used for building supplies before 1970. Buildings that have not had the asbestos removed pose a health risk to those who use the buildings. As asbestos disturbances, caused by age and decaying, can loosen asbestos fibers and make them airborne, causing asbestos exposure.