Kensington High School families get answers about asbestos concerns from school district

Families at Kensington High School are getting some answers less than a week before students head back to class. They learned just days ago that their school building on Cumberland Street will not open for the start of the year due to an asbestos problem.

School officials met with families at a separate district building in Kensington to explain what went wrong and where students will go instead.

Every new school year comes with some jitters, but Diamond Torres is about to start her junior year Monday with a few more unknowns.

"It's an important year. Now, I got to focus on how to get to school, how to get back," Diamond said.

A commute she didn't have to think about until just days ago, when the Kensington High School student learned the building where she's spent the last two years would not open because of asbestos concerns.

"Just how, and why?" Diamond said.

On Tuesday night, district officials tried to answer those questions, saying the problem began in July during an improvement project for the school's HVAC system.

"As part of that project, piping in the basement was removed," Oz Hill, deputy superintendent of operations at the School District of Philadelphia, said.

They say it revealed asbestos, and a subcontractor made an error when handling it, spreading contaminated material throughout the building.

"I would like to acknowledge and apologize for this unfortunate circumstance," Hill said.

Officials explained why they chose the former Austin Meehan Middle School in Northeast Philadelphia as the temporary home for Kensington High students. They say it has the space for over 400 students and 90 faculty and staff members, and accommodations for students with special needs.

But it's more than 7 miles away — about a 24-minute drive without traffic.

Diamond says that distance creates a new problem for her family.

"I used to get car rides, but now that my mom can't take me that far," she said. "We live so close to Kensington. It's impossible, especially due to traffic."

The district's solution: students can still come to their closed school on Cumberland Street, where shuttles will take them to and from Meehan each day. The district says it will have about eight buses staged at the school as early as 6:45 a.m. every morning.

Families asked questions and learned that students are expected to return in January after a lengthy process of cleaning, then upgrading facilities.

"Making sure that our students are safe, our staff is safe," Kensington High School principal Dr. Jose Lebron said.

But for now, students like Diamond will navigate a new year in a whole new space.