After asbestos shutters Kensington High School, parents of students with autism worry about long commute

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Priscilla Rodriguez expects her son, who has autism, to struggle with the transition from Kensington High School to the former Austin Meehan building roughly 7 miles away in Northeast Philadelphia.

Kensington High School was shuttered after district officials learned that an unauthorized contractor removed asbestos-containing material from the building during an HVAC renovation project this summer, creating a potentially dangerous environment in the school.

“My son is not big on new things,” Rodriguez said. “He likes consistency.”

Rodriguez and other parents at Kensington High School expressed anxiety about the relocation during a virtual meeting Wednesday, with several saying the longer commute will be challenging for students with autism.

District officials said Meehan was chosen as the best option to accommodate Kensington High School’s student body and offered to work with parents on the best solutions for their students. ​

Parents worry about transportation to Meehan

The district plans to provide shuttles for Kensington students to Meehan. Shuttles will leave Kensington High School each morning starting at 7 a.m. to travel to Meehan, and will depart Meehan to return to Kensington High School starting at 2:15 p.m., district officials said.

Students receiving yellow bus service due to individualized education plans will be picked up along the normal bus route, which will then travel to Meehan.

Rodriguez said she does not trust the school bus to arrive at her house in the morning, after it repeatedly failed to do so in the past. She said she will not be able to drive her son to Meehan due to her work schedule, and that her son will struggle to ride the shuttles due to sensory issues. She asked district officials whether they considered virtual learning or diverting students to other schools in Kensington, rather than moving to Meehan.

“Did y’all really, really think this out?” she said.

Monica Mott, whose son also has autism and will be a freshman at Kensington High School this year, said that in the past, school buses have picked up her son one to two hours after school began.

“I just want something to ease my anxiety that the bus is going to come,” she said.

John Aponte said his son, who has special needs, has also experienced long delays on school buses, resulting in him getting home as late as 6:15 p.m.

“With this school being transferred so far up there, I’m trying to figure out these issues now,” Aponte said. “What type of estimated time am I expecting him to get home, and is he going to be on that bus for three, three and a half hours now at night?”

District officials apologized to Aponte and said they would work with him to find a solution.

How Meehan was chosen

Deputy Superintendent of Operations Oz Hill said Meehan was chosen because it can accommodate Kensington High School’s 90 staff members and over 400 students, while being accessible to students with disabilities. He said the building prevents Kensington High School students from needing to share the cafeteria and gymnasium with other schools.

“The facilities that were closer to Kensington High School did not meet the needs in terms of capacity, accessibility and security for our students, faculty and staff,” Hill said. “Being at the Austin Meehan School provides us the best opportunity to preserve as much of Kensington’s normal school experience as possible during this temporary location.”

Kensington High School Principal José Lebrón told families Wednesday that when he first learned of the asbestos issue, he felt protective of his school community.

“My immediate reaction was, ‘There is no way under the sun that I am going to permit my students and my staff to return to an environment that was not safe, that was not clean, an environment that was decontaminated,’” Lebrón said.

Lebrón thanked Hill, saying Hill’s team has provided “every resource that we need to make sure that this transition and the start of the school year will be successful.”

What’s next for the Kensington High School building

Hill said the HVAC renovation project was in its “final stage” when district officials learned that a subcontractor performing demolition work had removed asbestos-containing pipe insulation “without following the required regulatory controls.”

After the mistake was communicated to the district, officials halted the project “immediately,” he said.

Hill said the next steps in the remediation and renovation are time-intensive, requiring small, contained work areas to be established throughout the building. He said air testing will continue through September.

Kevin Courtney, the district’s capital programs construction manager, said “industrial cleaning” is occurring at the high school now so that contractors can restart the HVAC renovation project. He said once that happens, an independent construction monitor will oversee the work. A district maintenance team will then complete plumbing, electrical, carpentry and painting repairs before the building is deep-cleaned in order to reopen in January.

“Our ultimate aim is not to merely reopen, but to warmly welcome the Kensington community back into a safe and revitalized environment that is ready to serve everyone effectively,” Courtney said.