Huntington Beach School With Asbestos To Stay Closed Indefinitely
HUNTINGTON BEACH (CBSLA.com) — At least one Huntington Beach school will remain closed indefinitely, and two more through the end of the week, after classrooms tested positive for asbestos.
Many parents left the Ocean View School District board meeting believing all 11 district schools would be closed Wednesday; however, the board continued to meet in private past midnight and decided to only close Hope View, Lake View and Oak View schools through Friday, the district's website said.
On Wednesday, district officials made the decision to close Lake View school until further notice because of the presence of asbestos in the fireproofing. Testing is incomplete, district officials said, and it will take five to 10 weeks to get crews in to clean it up.
The closure comes after asbestos experts retested all of the schools and found traces of the mineral in a classroom at Hope View Elementary School.
Asbestos can be cancer-causing when inhaled in large amounts, experts said.
Many parents began taking their children out of Hope View and Oak View elementary schools on Friday after a complaint was filed last week.
Both schools were closed Monday and Tuesday following asbestos removal Saturday.
The asbestos was first discovered last summer during a renovation project at Oak View and Lake View schools.
Ocean View officials confirmed that parents were not notified when the mineral was found and removal began, which continued while students were back in school.
Several parents addressed district officials, unsure of when classes could safely resume.
"You have you taken the safety and the welfare of my child and decided that I did not have a say in it and you put them at risk. How dare you!" parent Ryan Summerville said.
Parents have called for the resignation of an assistant superintendent.
"We love our kids. You don't," parent Michelle Morales told officials during the district meeting. "Our kids are a dollar in your paycheck."
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