Lawrence High School closed over asbestos

UPDATE: The school re-opened Thursday. District officials closed the school late Tuesday after workmen disturbed some insulated ductwork containing asbestos that was hidden above a ceiling in the old, unoccupied high school cafeteria.

By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
   Lawrence High School was closed Wednesday after workmen disturbed some insulated ductwork containing asbestos that was hidden above a ceiling in the old, unoccupied high school cafeteria, according to Superintendent of Schools Philip Meara.
   Tests were conducted throughout the high school Wednesday and proved negative for airborne and surface contaminants, Mr. Meara said.
   District officials had not received permission from township Construction Official Anthony Cermele on whether they could reopen the school on Thursday by the time The Ledger went to press.
   The workmen disturbed the insulated ductwork Tuesday afternoon after school was dismissed, Mr. Meara said. As soon as it was confirmed that the insulation contained asbestos, district officials closed school and canceled after-school and evening activities for Wednesday.
   Environmental Connections, the school district’s environmental engineers and consultants, tested the area where the asbestos fibers were released, Mr. Meara said. The tests were positive for airborne contaminants in the old cafeteria and hallway immediately outside of it that leads to the outside of the building. Those areas remain closed off, he said.
   The old kitchen and the hallways immediately behind and to the right of it all tested negative for airborne fibers, he said. Based on those results, officials believe the contamination was contained to the areas of the incident and did not migrate through the rest of the school, he said.
   Wednesday’s closing was the last of three "emergency closing days" built into the school calendar, Mr. Meara said. High school students and staff will make up Wednesday’s closing on June 19, but the closing will not affect the high school graduation date — set for June 19 — or the rest of the year’s schedule, he said.
   The $18.8 million renovation project includes an addition with a new cafeteria, four science labs, a computer lab, offices for the three assistant principals, an art classroom, a faculty room and the school store. The rest of the project includes science classrooms and lab space and music instruction rooms.
   The existing cafeteria will be renovated to provide space for instrumental and vocal music instruction areas along with practice rooms. The existing instrumental music room will be reconfigured to create art classrooms. The main entrance to the high school was relocated from the Princeton Pike side of the building. The new entrance is off the parking lot, between LHS and Lawrence Middle School. It includes the principal’s office, plus the guidance office.
   At the rear of the school, in the space now occupied by the trailers, there are plans to build a consumer science wing. It will include classrooms for the family and consumer science curriculum, plus the child development curriculum. The school’s media center, on the north side of the building, also will be renovated and expanded. It will include the district’s TV studio and the Cisco Academy labs. The district made arrangements with the computer giant to train its students to find work in the computer technology field. Currently, Cisco Academy classes take place in a former auto shop that was converted into classroom space.
   The project is expected to relieve overcrowding at the high school and eliminate the classroom trailers on campus. The school was designed in 1966 for 760 students, but the 2004-05 enrollment was 1,482 students.