ASBESTOS REMOVAL WORK ALARMS HALE PARENTS SCHOOL DID NOT INFORM OF PROJECT.Byline: Robert Robert, Henry Martyn 1837-1923. American army engineer and parliamentary authority. He designed the defenses for Washington, D.C., during the Civil War and later wrote Robert's Rules of Order (1876). Noun 1. Monroe and David R. Baker Staff Writers WOODLAND HILLS - A group of parents whose children attend Hale Middle School complained Wednesday that officials failed to warn them that asbestos asbestos, mineral asbestos, common name for any of a variety of silicate minerals within the amphibole and serpentine groups that are fibrous in structure and more or less resistant to acid and fire. was being removed from two campus walkways during the winter holiday. The parents learned of the removal only when they returned to school with their children this week to find large white plastic tents blocking the walkways when students returned to school. ``There was no disclosure. That's what really irritates me,'' said Simeon Peroff, whose two children attend the school, one of several in the district recently targeted for asbestos removal. Hale Principal Jeanie Leighton said the Woodland Hills campus is safe, and that she didn't inform parents because the removal began during winter break when students, staffers and faculty were absent. And she said she still has not told parents formally about the tents and equipment because she considers the site safe. ``I'm not concerned about being exposed to asbestos,'' Leighton said. ``I'm just concerned about the inconvenience it causes.'' School district inspectors visited the campus Tuesday to determine whether asbestos was still present in the ceilings of the covered walkways. The work was scheduled to end this past Sunday Sunday: see Sabbath; week. but took longer than expected, Leighton said. She added that inspectors must approve the removal work and test for remaining asbestos before the tent-shrouded operation can be dismantled dis·man·tle tr.v. dis·man·tled, dis·man·tling, dis·man·tles 1. a. To take apart; disassemble; tear down. b. . The site could be cleared as early as today pending lab results, a district spokesman said. Bettina MacKenzie said that had she known about the asbestos removal project, she would have kept her three daughters at home until the work was finished. ``It's a risk I just don't want to take,'' she said. The asbestos removal is part of a larger project to demolish de·mol·ish tr.v. de·mol·ished, de·mol·ish·ing, de·mol·ish·es 1. To tear down completely; raze. 2. To do away with completely; put an end to. 3. the school's covered walkways and replace them with seismically safe structures. The incident at Hale follows a series of asbestos-related problems around the district that has forced the closure of two high schools and the partial closing of several others. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: A Hale Middle School student walks by a tented tent·ed adj. 1. Covered with tents. 2. Sheltered in tents. 3. Resembling a tent. area where workers are removing asbestos from a covered walkway walkway Rehabilitation medicine An instrument used to measure the timing of foot contact and or position of the foot on the ground . Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer |
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