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Nine charter schools hit with asbestos fines

Aug 8, 2007 | Nathan Olivarez-Giles | Arizona Daily Star

Nine Tucson-area charter schools have agreed to pay a combined $67,240 in asbestos-related fines to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The settlement was reached Friday after a year of negotiations between the EPA and the schools over fine amounts, said Dean Higuchi, an agency spokesman. The violations were found when the EPA conducted surprise inspections at the schools in May 2006, Higuchi said.

One school just never checked for asbestos before opening. It was later found to be free of asbestos, along with two other schools.

Six other schools weren't regularly checking for the hazardous material and were found by the EPA to have asbestos in their buildings that school officials didn't know was there.

All of the nine schools are now asbestos-free and have management plans in place to check their buildings for hazardous materials.

The largest fines went to Pima Partnership School; Transformational Learning Center; Alternative Computerized Education Charter High School; and Tucson Urban League Academy.

On Monday, the EPA released the names of the nine schools, their individual fine amounts and their violations. They are:

? Pima Partnership School: $12,600 in fines for having about 109,000 square feet of asbestos-containing materials in the school.

? Transformational Learning Center: Fined $12,600 for 5,200 square feet of asbestos-containing material in the school.

? Alternative Computerized Education Charter High School: The school will pay $12,600 for 28,120 square feet of asbestos-containing material.

? Tucson Urban League Academy: Fined $11,300 for 500 square feet of asbestos-containing material found on site.

? City High School: Fined $8,800 for not removing damaged ceiling plaster containing asbestos and for other violations.

? Calli Ollin Academy, Toltecalli Academy and Hiaki High School: $7,300 in fines for all three schools. Violations included asbestos materials found in Calli Ollin. All are operated by Calli Ollin Academy Inc., a division of Chicanos Por La Causa Tucson.

No asbestos-containing materials were found in Toltecalli or Hiaki, but both schools had failed to create a mandatory "asbestos management plan." Hiaki also had never previously been inspected for asbestos-containing materials.

? Southside Community School: Fined $1,453 for not having an "asbestos management plan" in place before inspection. No asbestos was found in the school.

Some schools' management plans - as in the case of Southside Community School, Toltecalli Academy and Hiaki High School - are simply a collection of documents showing that no asbestos was used in the construction and inspectors haven't found any since, Higuchi said.

Only Southside Community School and City High School returned telephone calls Monday afternoon.

Administration at Southside Community School was unaware they needed to have an "asbestos management plan" despite using no asbestos-containing materials on campus, said Christene Curtis, business manager at Southside Community.

"It was a surprise to us when we were fined," Curtis said. "We don't have any asbestos in the school, but we needed to have the management plan anyway, so now we set one up. But, it's a shame to me that we should get fined for the whole deal; we could have used that money on other things."

Many older buildings and schools contain materials made with some amount of asbestos, which is why the EPA requires schools and business to have their own management plans and regular inspections in place, Higuchi said.

The danger with asbestos is that the impacts of related illnesses aren't felt for as many as 10 to 30 years after the exposure, Higuchi said.