Asbestos contamination closes Laval high school until mid-October
Posted September 2, 2024 3:49 pm.
Last Updated September 3, 2024 7:13 pm.
The confirmed presence of asbestos fibres following a second round of testing has forced the closure of a Laval high school until mid-October.
Beginning Wednesday, classes for the 1,400 students at Horizon Jeunesse High School in Auteuil will take place in person at nearby venues – an arena and a different school – as well as remotely.
BACKGROUND: Risk of asbestos exposure forces last-minute closure of Laval high school
“The school’s cleaning and decontamination operation is already underway and will continue this weekend and in the coming weeks,” the school’s principal Nassima Araar wrote to parents in a letter on Saturday. “It will be carried out according to the established protocol and under the supervision of experts.”
The letter was also posted to the Centre de services scolaire de Laval’s website.
“We will have the opportunity to inform you of the steps taken to this effect later, as the operation progresses,” Araar’s letter reads. “We thank you for your understanding and your valuable collaboration in the context of these exceptional events. We look forward to seeing our students again.”
Yves-Michel Volcy, executive director of the Centre de services scolaire de Laval, says the decontamination process is expected to take around five to six weeks to complete.
“We will meet with parents this week to inform them of the situation and ensure that the return to school goes smoothly,” Volcy said.
Horizon Jeunesse was undergoing renovations during the summer, including work involving the ventilation system.
“This work was carried out in asbestos conditions and a safety protocol was in place,” Araar explained last week. “The ventilation system was therefore stopped. Our teams are used to working in asbestos conditions and safety protocols exist for these situations.”
WATCH: Laval high school closed after possible asbestos contamination
Last Monday, as part of the work, the school says “the system was accidentally activated for one minute when it should have been kept off. Even if this activation was short, we did not want to take any risks.”
The exposure risk, even before testing confirmed contamination had occurred, delayed the return to classes for students, initially scheduled for Aug. 27.
“For once we had a going back to school that seemed to be going for a normal year, but unfortunately for this school, it won’t be the case,” said Sylvain Martel, the spokesperson for Regroupement des comités de parents autonomes du Québec (RCPAQ), a group representing parents in the public school system.
Now students will split their time between the nearby Mike Bossy Arena, École secondaire de la Croisée, and home for remote learning.
“It’s very unfortunate but in the case of you don’t take any asbestos chance,” said Martel.
“It’s a question of very dangerous air quality.”
Martel says while the situation is unfortunate, communication between parents and the Centre de services scolaire de Laval has been clear and effective.
“Right out of the gate they said, ‘well if there is contamination, we’re looking at mid-October going back to school,’” he said.
He is, however, concerned the situation may affect students’ learning.
“We have to watch for their progress in November and December so that we can adjust if kids develop some difficulties,” Martel said. “Because we’ve seen it with the strike last year, it doesn’t take that long to lose interest, the reflex of learning.”
“We will discuss with teachers what measures can be put in place, including possibly using remaining funds from last year’s recovery plan to provide additional support to students,” added Volcy.
