Pittsburgh Parent Group Reopens Asbestos Debate

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley High School was closed last summer when peeling, falling, asbestos-laden plaster kept ending up on the floor in hallways and classrooms - a remediation job that cost the School District about $750,000 to fix.

The issue of Schenley's closing has since flowed over onto other buildings used by the Pittsburgh School District and - air quality monitoring aside - threatens to become ugly, as parents and other officials challenge the District's handling of the situation.

Why, they asked at a meeting on January 12, does Schenley need to remain closed, when other schools in the District, also containing asbestos, remain open?

Constructed in 1916, Schenley High School is one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Pittsburgh. It is also the first United States' high school to cost more than a million dollars to build and contains a Skinner pipe organ. Unfortunately, extensive use of asbestos makes the historic structure too costly to remediate for its continued use as a school, according to school district officials.

School Superintendent Mark Roosevelt responded to Schenley supporter's challenges by noting that Schenley's maintenance had been deferred for decades, and outlined the $64.4-million cost to remediate asbestos and renovate the school - $64 million the district currently doesn't have.
Schenley supporters disagree with the costs of remediation and renovation, and argue that the asbestos problem isn't as serious as the District says it is. These supporters also suggest that the District is experiencing negative cash flow, and wants to ameliorate that situation by closing Schenley and selling it.

"How does the district determine whether there is a significant risk of danger? Under what circumstances does the district seek a consultant's opinion or adhesion test of the plaster? At which buildings has an enhanced monitoring and maintenance program been adopted and as of what date? Are policies being applied consistently?" asked Sue Mietzner, of Pure Reform, a group formed to keep Schenley open which currently monitors school district operations.

In response, District representatives highlighted the recently completed asbestos abatement at McKelvy, Vann and Woolslair Elementary schools. District environmental specialist Bob Kennedy also added that the asbestos problem at Schenley was much worse than at any other school. In addition, Schenley also has serious mechanical issues as well, while, according to Roosevelt, the other schools have all been inspected and deemed safe.

Werner's rebuttal, which highlighted more than 40 asbestos remediation projects at McKelvy School since 1989, as well as 12 at Vann School and approximately 10 at the Woolslair building, outlines a policy of school closures which parents and Schenley school supporters see as uneven, arbitrary and inconsistent.

Schenley supporters dispute the renovation estimate, saying the asbestos problem isn't as serious as the district portrays it, and hinting that the financially strapped district actually wants to sell the building to reverse its negative cash position.

The District's response, provided in the form of a PDF document, says that the district "can not afford the current necessary renovations to Pittsburgh Schenley. For far less than the $64 million it would cost to remediate the Schenley building, we can actually create four new learning communities and improve the Robotics Technology program, delivering strong academic content to a far larger number of students."

Like many historic buildings in Pittsburgh, Schenley will likely pass into the hands of a developer and be remodeled into upscale living units. It is a better fate than most asbestos-laden buildings receive, but even then does little to address the growing cost of asbestos remediation in school buildings by school districts facing a financial crunch.

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