Glendale Hts. school to tell asbestos results

A new report on asbestos in Queen Bee elementary school in Glendale Heights will be presented to concerned parents at a public meeting tonight, said District 16 Supt. James White.

Recent air sampling in the building at 1560 Bloomingdale Rd. in the Du Page County suburb showed "unexpectedly high" levels of asbestos, White said yesterday.

But no asbestos - used to insulate heating pipes in certain sections of the school - was found in dust samples taken from desk tops, floors and lockers in the same areas, where it would have settled from the air, he said.

Because of the conflicting results, further tests were ordered by White and the school board. Results from those tests were expected to be presented at the 7 p.m. meeting at Glenside Junior High School, next to the elementary school.

School officials now must determine how much time they have to remove the asbestos and how much it will cost. They had originally planned to remove the insulation after classes end this summer.

"The minimum cost is $100,000," White said. "We are not wealthy; . . . for a project that big, we will have to borrow."

Queen Bee has about 350 pupils in kindergarten through fifth grade. It was built in five stages beginning in the 1930s. The asbestos was used in the section built in the 1950s, before it was discovered that breathing it can lead to cancer.

The district has been testing for asbestos since 1979 and initiated the latest tests, White said