PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — School district officials met with parents and staff of Kensington High School Tuesday night to discuss the logistics of moving students to a different facility while crews deal with an asbestos problem.
The School District of Philadelphia learned in mid-July that asbestos in the basement of Kensington High had been mishandled by a subcontractor.
With the facility temporarily unfit for some 400 students and 90 staff, they will spend the first semester at the former Austin Meehan Middle School building in Mayfair — more than 7 miles away.
School officials said it was the closest building that met Kensington High’s accommodation needs.
Asbestos remediation will be underway through at least December. The school is expected to reopen in January.
Tuesday night’s meeting assuaged some of Michele Sterner’s fears about getting her granddaughter to school.
“My anxiety was a bit high. I think we’ll have a few little kinks in the beginning, but I think everything’s going to work out,” she said.
Parent Kathery De Jesus was more apprehensive.
“Where I live at to the school, where it’s going to be located now, that’s more than half an hour by car. So that’s one of my biggest concerns,” she said.
School officials said students who get curb-to-curb drop-off will still receive that mode of transportation. Others will need to get to Kensington High between 6:45 and 7 a.m. to board shuttles. Those shuttles will depart Meehan around 2:15 p.m.
The school district is holding additional public meetings about the changes:
- A Zoom meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 19, from 5 to 7 p.m.
- An open house at Austin Meehan Middle School on Friday, Aug. 21, at 1 p.m.
- An open house at Austin Meehan Middle School on Saturday, Aug. 22, at 10 a.m.
The school will be closed at least for the first half of the academic year
The school will be closed at least for the first half of the academic year
