School Temporarily Closed to Rectify Asbestos Hazard

Los Angeles school officials have temporarily closed an elementary school building because workers installing air conditioning ducts cut into a ceiling containing asbestos, possibly exposing teachers and students to the dangerous material.

Students and teachers will not be allowed to return to the main building at Commonwealth Elementary School, just west of downtown, for about two weeks, the time it will take to clean up the fibrous mineral and finish installing the ducts, district spokesman Bill Rivera said Sunday.

Breathing asbestos, which was commonly used as building insulation in the 1950s and 1960s, has been linked to lung cancer and other respiratory ailments.

The construction project began in September and students and teachers were moved from one classroom to another as work on the air conditioning system progressed, said Catherine Carey, spokeswoman for the United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers’ union.

After students and teachers complained for weeks about the dust from the construction work, tests were made and the asbestos was identified Wednesday, Carey said.

The district immediately evacuated students, teachers and other personnel to other buildings on the 1,000-student campus. They were bused about a mile east to Plasencia Elementary on Thursday and Friday.

Rivera did not know how many people may have come in contact with dust from the project or how many people were affected by the closure.

The district did not know about the asbestos contained in adhesive securing acoustic ceiling tiles, Rivera said. The affected building houses classrooms and administrative offices.

The students will return briefly to the school on Tuesday--after Monday’s observance of Veterans Day--but they will be assigned to classrooms outside the main building, Rivera said. Starting Wednesday, students again will be bused to Plasencia.

Asbestos is harmless when intact and shielded to prevent exposure. But when it is “friable”--broken or frayed--it can release microscopic fibers into the air.

Asbestos illness has appeared mainly in heavily exposed workers. But there are reports of disease in lightly or briefly exposed people, leading many experts to believe there is no safe exposure level.

The district has spent millions of dollars in recent years to correct asbestos hazards. But it was cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1984 and again last year for violating asbestos regulations requiring that information about asbestos hazards in schools be made available to parents and school employees.