Students Show Up at School Closed by Fire, Asbestos Work

Scores of students showed up for class Monday at Chatsworth High School, apparently unaware that the school was closed for cleanup of asbestos problems that district officials blame on a contractor’s allegedly shoddy work.

The school’s troubles were deepened by a weekend fire that gutted a computer lab--collapsing a classroom ceiling and melting computers.

Although the school is scheduled to reopen Wednesday, officials will have to scramble to find about eight temporary classrooms to replace the computer classroom and nearby rooms damaged in the $235,000 fire, said Principal Dan Wyatt.

City fire officials were investigating the cause of the Sunday night blaze, said Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells. But William Panos, the head of the school district’s environmental health and safety branch, said its origins were suspicious. “From talking to fire investigators, there seems to be some contradictions in the burned-out classroom that raise some questions,” Panos said.

Separately, district officials have launched an investigation into Glendale-based Tadros Construction Inc. for possibly ignoring federal asbestos guidelines when it worked on the school’s computer network hookup--a Proposition BB project, said Hilda Ramirez, a district spokeswoman.

Throughout the day, miserable weather cast a shadow over an already bad series of events at Chatsworth High.

“What a wonderful day,” Wyatt deadpanned Monday morning, holding an umbrella and looking up at the sky.

School officials said the district tries to notify all parents about school closures by using a voice-activated machine that is supposed to keep calling until the phone is picked up by a person or answering machine. But many students said they were never notified of the closure. A few students with cars drove up to the front of the school, read the signs and drove off.

“You bet I’m mad. And where’s my dad? I telephoned him 20 minutes ago,” said Catherine Pham, 18, of Northridge. “Some of us have no cars and it’s pouring.”

But about 70 students were bused in, some from as far as South-Central L.A. Taking shelter in the gymnasium, they used 25 district cell phones to call their parents for rides home.

While some bus drivers complained about having to take students to school though it was closed, district officials said they were following policy.

“Whenever a school is closed, buses run their regular routes to pick up children who have not gotten the message,” Ramirez said. “It’s better than leaving them on the streets not knowing what’s going on. This way they’re provided with supervision while their parents are notified.”

Ricky Garay, 14, stood glumly at a street corner without an umbrella as he waited for a ride home. “They should have called us,” he said.

Later in the morning, buses took students who could not be picked up by parents back home.

District officials decided Friday to close Chatsworth High after environmental workers discovered asbestos during a routine inspection. It was unclear when the asbestos at Chatsworth High was first disturbed, Panos said.

Both Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades and Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights were closed in November when asbestos was discovered on those campuses.

Asbestos is a fact of life in many older buildings, where it was commonly used as a fire retardant. The carcinogenic fiber is most dangerous when it is disturbed and released into the air, experts say.

Work performed by Tadros crews may have kicked up the asbestos contamination that has affected 70% of the campus, which serves 3,000 students, said Ramirez.

“The guidelines are pretty strict and pretty straightforward,” Ramirez said. “A preliminary investigation suggests the contractors did not follow the guidelines in dealing with the asbestos.”

Panos said consultants hired by the district told the contractor where asbestos was located in the school before Tadros Construction began work last May. The company worked on and off at Chatsworth High from May to January.

A company official, who refused to give his name, declined to comment.

It is unclear how much exposure to asbestos is too much, said Jerry Martin of the California Air Resources Board. The toxic fibers can cause a virulent form of lung cancer and other maladies, he said.

Panos said that the district oversees the work of contractors and that his department would introduce procedures to prevent more such incidents.