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The Department of Justice filed criminal charges Thursday against the Philadelphia school district for not meeting requirements to keep students and staff safe from asbestos exposure.
The Justice Department found that the district failed to conduct timely asbestos inspections, as mandated by federal law, and that district officials “purposely” delayed inspections and “knowingly and regularly failed to make necessary repairs,” according to the agreement.
However, the school board voted unanimously Thursday to enter into an agreement with the Justice Department to resolve the investigation and avoid being prosecuted at least for now, in what the federal government called a “conditional release of liability.”
The details of the yearslong investigation were made public Thursday. Philadelphia became the first district in the country to face criminal charges over this type of environmental violation, the Justice Department said.
Nearly 300 schools the Philadelphia district owns contain asbestos, a common building material that can cause breathing problems and lung disease when it deteriorates and is breathed in. Federal law requires school districts nationwide to regularly monitor for asbestos and to ensure they repair any damage quickly to reduce exposure risk.
Many Philadelphia school buildings are aging and in desperate need of repairs. In recent years, the district has closed several schools due to asbestos, forcing students to relocate partway through the school year.
The Justice Department’s investigation, which began in 2020 and examined the district’s asbestos monitoring program between 2015 and 2023, revealed “a longstanding and widespread problem of asbestos contamination in Philadelphia schools,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The district’s approach “endangered students and teachers, and, in some cases, foreclosed any education at all by requiring the closure of the school,” the statement said.
Failure to abide by the Justice Department agreement may result in criminal sanctions against the district.
In exchange, the district has committed to complying with asbestos-related laws, including inspecting buildings every six months and regularly repairing damage. The agreement also requires the district to report updates about its asbestos program to the court twice a year.
Superintendent Tony Watlington, who has led the district since 2022, said in a statement that since the investigation began, the district has “rebuilt” its asbestos management program. All district-owned school buildings are now inspected twice per year, and the school district has increased its investment in environmental management, according to Watlington.
DOJ finds major problems with Philadelphia’s asbestos monitoring
The Justice Department’s agreement details a long list of problems with how the district ran its asbestos monitoring program, including failing to supervise the team in charge of handling asbestos and inconsistently inspecting schools with major asbestos problems.
In 2019, for example, staff at Laura Carnell Elementary School found several areas where asbestos that should have been encapsulated to prevent it from breaking down into the air had been left exposed. In one area, the crumbling asbestos had been merely wrapped in duct tape, according to the agreement.
Separately, in 2020, a teacher was diagnosed with mesothelioma, an incurable form of cancer frequently caused by exposure to asbestos.
According to the agreement, there were 31 schools affected by the district’s inadequate approach. Several had widely known asbestos issues, including Building 21 Alternative High School, Southwark Elementary, Universal Vare Charter School, Frankford High School, and Franklin Learning Center.
Special Agent in Charge Allison Landsman of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division said in a statement the agency is committed to prosecuting environmental law violators, especially when students and teachers are at risk.
“This resolution requires additional accountability on the School District of Philadelphia to ensure protections are in place to prevent future asbestos exposure,” she said.
School district promises to improve asbestos monitoring
In the agreement, which the board had initially planned to vote on at its previous meeting in May, the district committed to following federal asbestos monitoring laws and agreed to increased oversight.
The school district will now report to a court about its asbestos remediation process for up to five years. After three years, the district can request early termination of the agreement if it has complied with the law for at least six months.
In the agreement, the Justice Department recognized the district had improved some of its asbestos monitoring practices since the investigation began, including hiring more staff in its Office of Environmental Management and Services and tripling its budget for environmental work from $21 million to $61 million.
The agreement also states that the district has updated its software to track asbestos data and is regularly sharing related information with the public. A list of the district’s annual asbestos inspection reports for each school is available on its website.
The district’s current facilities planning process, which board members have said will likely result in some school closures, is also partially meant to address buildings’ environmental problems.
Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that impact students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org.
Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org.
