Playground field area shut down
COEUR d'ALENE - A section of the Bryan Elementary School playground was fenced off Friday, after broken tile pieces found by students digging in the dirt were discovered to contain asbestos.
The tiles were tested, at the request of Coeur d'Alene School District maintenance workers, by Mountain Lab in Spokane.
"The lab report states the tiles do not contain the type of asbestos that becomes airborne when disturbed and causes serious health dangers," wrote Principal Joel Palmer, in a letter sent home Friday to Bryan Elementary School parents.
School district spokeswoman Laura Rumpler said the tiles were determined to be "non-friable" asbestos-containing materials. The EPA defines non-friable asbestos-containing materials as comprising more than 1 percent asbestos but not able to be crumbled, pulverized or reduced to powder by hand pressure when dry.
"We believe the old tiles are remnants of the demolition of the old Bryan School building back in the 1950s," Palmer told parents in the letter.
The students found the tile pieces Monday and took them home with them from school. The following day, their parents contacted Palmer with concerns that the tiles may contain asbestos.
School district maintenance department employees were immediately consulted, and drove the tiles to the Spokane lab for 24-hour processing.
Upon receiving the lab report, the maintenance department consulted with two environmental specialists the school district has worked with through the years, J Tech and Summit Environmental, to determine a plan of action which was put into effect Friday.
Although the area where tile bits were found was about two-square-feet, maintenance workers used soil to fill in a 50-by-50-foot area on the eastern side of the playground's field area. Workers planned to lay sod down Friday, but could not due to the weather conditions. The area was fenced off, and will remain that way until grass can be planted.
The Coeur d'Alene School District has three maintenance department employees who have been specially trained, according to state and federal guidelines, as to how to handle situations involving asbestos.