Staff at Philly’s Martin Luther King HS can return Friday after asbestos abatement

Staff will be able to return Friday to Martin Luther King High School, which had been temporarily closed because of damaged asbestos.

A routine inspection in early August of the school in East Germantown uncovered damaged fireproofing above ceiling tiles in multiple spots, environmental chief Victoria Flemming said in a letter to the King community.

Some administrators returned to the building this week after a temporary closure, though staff worked remotely Tuesday and Wednesday. An off-site workday had already been planned for Thursday.

» READ MORE: Philly schools are ramping up asbestos work but are three years away from meeting federal requirements

Monique Braxton, district spokesperson, said the building was on track for students to return on Tuesday, though some areas of the school will be off-limits as abatement work continues.

“The first floor is ready for occupancy,” Braxton said. “The second-floor main office has been restored, and barriers are in place as active abatement continues in the gymnasium and girl’s bathroom on the second floor. Active abatement continues in third-floor classrooms that will not impact school opening.”

Though air quality samples taken in the early August inspection showed that the building was acceptable for occupancy, the district opted to close the school for two weeks to gather more data, Flemming wrote.

King’s building had a “large-scale abatement of asbestos-containing fireproofing” in the 1980s, but some residual fireproofing remained. When the building was closed, district staff worked to get a more accurate picture of exactly where the fireproofing was located and its condition.

“Through comprehensive sampling, we now know that only 37 out of the over 500 spaces above ceiling tiles in MLK have asbestos-containing fireproofing,” Flemming wrote.

Air samples continue to show acceptable readings, Flemming said.

“We know this work will cause minor disruptions,” principal Keisha Q. Wilkins wrote in a letter to staff this week, “but it is essential for maintaining safe and healthy school environments. Consistent with past efforts, any/all related abatement and construction will be completed after school hours starting at 3 p.m. daily and on weekends.”

Six Philadelphia schools were closed because of damaged asbestos in the 2022-23 school year.

Of the three that remained closed through the end of the last school year, Mitchell Elementary, in Southwest Philadelphia, is reopening on Tuesday; the main Frankford High building is closed but students in 10th through 12th grade will learn in an annex on the Frankford campus and ninth graders will learn at Roberto Clemente Middle School in North Philadelphia; and Universal Vare, a charter operating in a district building, will remain closed, with students learning in the McDaniel Annex building nearby.