Arkansas Elementary School to be inspected for Asbestos

An elementary school in suburban Little Rock, Arkansas, is under inspection for numerous safety and building code violations, including the potential presence of asbestos in the floor tiles and around the pipes. Inspectors at the Jacksonville Elementary School, led by senior city building inspector Martin Sanady, cited several other health and safety violations in a letter to the Pulaski County Special School District earlier this month. Mr. Sanady also said that the level of the violations is so severe that the idea of bringing children into the building for the new school year "gives (him) pause".

Mr. Sanady and his inspectors expressed their worries that cracked and shattered tiles at the school may contain asbestos. Although they have yet to conduct any tests on the material to ascertain if the tiles do contain the hazardous substance, many of the buildings constructed at the same time have used asbestos for insulation and fireproofing purposes. Long-term exposure to asbestos fibers has been proven to cause mesothelioma, a rare and inoperable form of lung cancer. Patients with the disease typically live a year or less after they receive their diagnosis.

Gary Beck was a previous principal at the school and now acts as the director of support services for the school district. In this capacity, he oversees the maintenance and repair of the thirty-nine school buildings in the district, including Jacksonville Elementary. Mr. Beck said that all the buildings in the school district undergo three inspections per year. The first comes before the beginning of the school year, the second during the winter break and the last one at the conclusion of the school year. He stated that school district custodians could remove a damaged tile and submit it for examination to county or state authorities to determine the presence of asbestos. He also has mentioned his thought that nearly all of the tiles used in the building's flooring contain asbestos.

If inspectors later determine that the building has been contaminated with asbestos, officials with the city, county and school district will be forced into a difficult decision. Since the school year is already underway, district officials will have to decide if the students and teachers should be relocated to another site, employ temporary buildings or cancel the school year entirely in order to deal with the problem of asbestos remediation. Also, like many other areas of the country facing similar problems, the district may have to seek additional state or federal funding to cover the costs of the cleanup project.

School board president Tim Clark said that matters dealing with building safety and inspections are typically handled by the school superintendent, Rob McGill, and the support services director, Mr. Beck. While he did not have a comment on the potential asbestos problem in the building, he did say that he wanted to insure that the building complied with all the criteria set out by the city's building codes and that the site was safe for students and teachers to conduct classes.

No date has yet been set to test the floor tiles for asbestos. School officials are waiting on these results before making any decisions on what possible changes need to take place regarding the building and any alterations to how classes will be conducted.

Sources: Arkansas Leader, Sherwood Voice

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