Philadelphia's Mitchell Elementary school reopening on schedule after asbestos work
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Kingsessing school will reopen in time for the next school year as work to address asbestos damage is nearly complete, the district says.
Mitchell Elementary was closed in late April after damaged asbestos was found. Students learned remotely before relocating to Morton McMichael Elementary in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia, over two miles away.
Now, Mitchell students will be back in their own building when the school year starts Sept. 5, Oz Hill, the district's chief development officer, wrote in a letter to the community this week.
Staff will be able to return Aug. 29, though workers may still be putting the final touches on paint and non-environmental work at the school.
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The district has already taken air samples and will have them analyzed to make sure the building meets health standards, Hill wrote.
An open house for the school community is planned for the final week of August.
Multiple Philadelphia schools were impacted by damaged asbestos this year including Frankford High School. There was uncertainty about whether Frankford would be ready at all for this coming school year, but the district has since made plans to seal off the older portion of the school where damaged asbestos was found and put grades 10-12 in the building's newer annex.