Asbestos: Here, There, and Everywhere

Although we have been hearing more about asbestos recently, it is certainly not a new issue. Masterman alum and teacher Mr. Tannen recalled similar experiences during his time as a student. “I remember there were times in high school that we had to close the school for a few days because of asbestos issues,” he said. “These issues have been going on since the 80s or 90s.”

It’s certainly not easy to understand why these concerns were not quelled when they first arose. This latest issue has been going on since 2019, when the Home and School Association (HSA) started working to get reports of environmental maintenance on damaged asbestos from the School District. Formerly, the HSA was only privy to specialists’ recommendations regarding the asbestos and the legally mandatory Ahera reports, not the reports of the actual work taking place. For over a year, the School District refused to release these documents to the HSA, and only disclosed them when the HSA began to take legal action against the District. After release, the HSA realized that the work completed in the reports almost never matched the recommendations made by environmental specialists. There were also many mentions of dust and debris found on top of ceiling tiles, especially near sites of damaged asbestos. When both the HSA and the teacher’s union asked for the debris to be tested for hazardous materials, Mr. Tannen explained, “the District said no, because they said they did not want to share decision making responsibilities.” He also added that “this doesn’t have anything to do with making decisions, it has to do with us knowing what hazards we’re potentially being exposed to in our school building.”

Asbestos is the source of this most recent issue, but the real problem was created by the disconnect between Masterman faculty and School District administrators.“The teachers only became informed towards the middle to end of August,” Mr. Tannen said. Teachers were required to return to the building the week before classes began on August 31. They took action, protesting unsafe conditions by refusing to enter the building. The orientation on August 22 was the pinnacle of this disconnect, with the superintendent’s assurance that it was safe for families to attend orientation in the auditorium, competing with teachers demonstrating that it was unsafe to enter the building. The District’s intense antagonism has prolonged and complicated this issue.

According to Mr. Tannen, the District “has not had a good track record in terms of honesty and transparency dealing with these issues.” It was difficult for the faculty to do anything other than protest since none of them are experts on asbestos. They began requesting that the School District collaborate with Jerry Roseman, an environmental scientist who works for the union. “He’s somebody we all trust, and he’s one of the most respected environmental hazard experts in the country,” Mr. Tannen said. “We have not been provided the information we have been asking for, and I feel that the only way forward is if the District collaborates with Jerry Roseman, who has outlined a ten-step plan that we feel would allow us to know whether our school building is safe.” But the District has been unwilling to cooperate with either Roseman or the HSA. According to Tannen, they have responded by doing “the legal minimum that [they] are required to do under the law to address asbestos.” The District so far has decided only to take actions when legally motivated to do so, which Mr. Tannen says “is very troubling, because rather than tackling the issue head-on with transparency and collaboration, they are instead choosing to ignore and say everything is okay.”

Even though the asbestos issue has not been in the press much since the initial clash between the District and Masterman’s faculty, the situation is still developing, and there is much left to be uncovered. Following his interview with the Voices team, Mr. Tannen followed up with an email, in regards to events that transpired on the 5th of November. Mr. Tannen, who was in the building, wrote, “I saw Jerry Roseman entering the school building. He informed me that he was here to take a look at Room 14 with Stephen Link, the Director of Environmental Management from the school district.” Room 14, the art room, a location where damaged asbestos was previously identified, was observed by Mr. Roseman. This observation was done after asbestos was reportedly removed during the previous night, and although air quality testing was apparently done before and after, Mr. Roseman said these results were not available to the union. “The positive aspect of this situation is that Dr. Payne sent out information regarding the situation directly to [the staff], and Jerry Roseman was allowed to visually assess the space,” Mr. Tannen wrote. “What is still unclear to me is whether the union will be able to review the air sampling test results and confirm air safety before students are asked to reenter Room 14, or if the district will simply tell us to enter and ask that we take their word that the room is safe.”

As for now, it seems that the only thing we can do is trust the very administration that has led us astray countless times before.