Mesothelioma and Asbestos News

By Jana Katsuyama
2News

Hundreds of Germantown students were sent home early Thursday when asbestos was found in the school cafeteria.

The district used an instant phone message system to send all parents an emergency recorded message.

"It worked wonderfully. I left a message at 9:30. Our middle school students were dismissed at ten. And at 20 minutes to 10 we had a lot of parents here to pick up our students," reported Valley View Superintendent Sherry Parr.

By 11 a.m., nine-year-old Melinda Cabrera and some 900 students were heading home. "The principal told us on the announcements. It's kind of cool that I get to go out of school early."

"It surprised me, the office called me," said Melinda's father Nicnor.

Construction crew had been cutting through the ceiling. Workers left a bag of materials in the building, and when the custodian opened it Thursday morning he discovered asbestos inside.

The superintendent immediately canceled all classes, moving latchkey students to the Germantown Elementary library.

And while everyone is safe, the timing could not be worse because the state is counting attendance.

"As most people know, our funding is determined by the count this week and also a count in February," explained Parr.

Parr plans to work with the state and environmental engineers to solve those problems. "They are doing some air quality samples and all the other samples they need to do. The results of those take about 24 hours and then we will see what the situation is."

Because of this situation, there will be no school on Friday for Germantown Elementary School and Valley View Middle School.

Latchkey will be for Farmersville students only an will be held at Germantown library. 

The superintendent will hold a community forum at 3:30 Friday afternoon at the Valley View High School library. She will be there with experts to answer any questions.