Rejected $34 million could have been used to build an asbestos-free middle schoolMollala River, Oregon - In Mollala River, Oregon, 57% of voters rejected a $34 million bond that would have funded a new middle school. Now continued concern about the current 60-year-old middle school’s mold and asbestos problems may mean closing the building and sending the school's sixth graders to the district's elementary schools and its seventh- and eighth- graders to the recently rebuilt Mollala High School.
Upon reports of loose asbestos in the school, a group of parents began advocating for a bond that would provide for a new middle school. Asbestos is a highly toxic mineral commonly found in a lot of older school buildings. It is known to cause such fatal diseases as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the body’s major cavities and organs.
Loose asbestos is particularly worrisome because the mineral is most dangerous when it cracks and crumbles. Asbestos that is disturbed releases tiny fibers that become airborne and that can be easily inhaled. These fibers lodge in the lungs for decades and cause damage that eventually affects either the lining of the lungs, causing pleural mesothelioma, or the lining of the abdomen, causing peritoneal mesothelioma.
Superintendent Wayne Kostur said that the district sealed off areas due to asbestos last year, but conducted air quality tests that deemed the building safe for use. Yet many remain skeptical.
"We want some quantifiable tests," says Gary Boswell, the parent who headed the failed bond campaign. "Once we get the testing done, we can stop all the rumors and arguments and really know where we stand."
