A construction consultant who’s also a Clifton Elementary School parent says asbestos is present at the site proposed for a new school to replace Clifton and could pose a threat to Fairfax County students.
Fairfax County School Board members are debating whether to close Clifton Elementary in favor of building a new school, a proposal endorsed by school board staff but strongly opposed by Clifton parents. The proposed site for the new building is on the grounds of Liberty Middle School.
But Fairfax resident and Clifton parent Tom VanBlaricom says building on the Liberty site could endanger local students and teachers.
VanBlaricom is chief executive officer of ECC, an environmental engineering firm that monitors the containment of hazardous materials. He says Liberty’s 80-acre site is rife with potential hazards.
“The danger is in the construction process,” VanBlaricom said.
Fairfax officials identified naturally occurring asbestos at the Liberty Middle School site when the school was built in 2002. That asbestos now lies dormant beneath a bed of soil, but VanBlaricom said new construction could release the asbestos.
“All of this construction and digging is going to disrupt the asbestos in the soil,” he said. “And there’s no way to control where these asbestos fibers will travel.”
Exposure to asbestos can cause cancer. VanBlaricom said asbestos particles released by new construction could contaminate the playing fields or buildings at Liberty, despite measures Fairfax construction crews would take to mitigate the threat.
But Fairfax County Public Schools officials downplayed the potential threat.
“We know how to build schools where asbestos is identified,” said school board member Elizabeth Bradsher. “That is nothing new to our planning and construction department.”
Bradsher said the school board would never put students’ health at risk, and said if significant problems turn up at the Liberty site, the school board will take appropriate action.
“This is only one of the options on the table,” said Kevin Sneed, director of design and construction for Fairfax County Public Schools. Sneed said extensive soil samples and tests would be conducted before any construction would begin at the Liberty site.
The school board is scheduled to decide Clifton’s fate on July 8.
