School board hires firm for asbestos survey
BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE — Before new windows can be installed in 17 district schools, the old ones need to be removed.

But some of the old fixtures contain asbestos, a school official said.

The Board of Education recently hired PMK Group, Cranford, for $27,500 to survey eight schools’ windows and walls for asbestos.

A second contract will be awarded soon to PMK Group to survey more schools for $19,000, School Business Administrator Dennis DeMarino said.

“We’re going to go out and replace windows at most of the schools, but sometimes the caulking that was used to install the windows contains asbestos,” DeMarino said. “So we hired PMK to go around to every school and take samples. We can’t just pull the windows out if they have asbestos.”

Asbestos is an indestructible fiber. When materials containing asbestos break down, the fibers may become airborne, lodging in the lungs and posing health hazards, he said.

When a school is found to contain asbestos in its walls or window fixtures, a special remediation process must be followed, DeMarino said.

“They encapsulate the room and put plastic up inside it before they take the caulking out,” he said. “Right now, if [asbestos] is in there, it’s totally safe. There is absolutely no danger to the children.”

It’s when asbestos is dislodged and becomes airborne that it may pose a danger, DeMarino said.

“But this very easy asbestos to remove,” he said. “It’s very heavy. It’s like a glue. It’s not going to go airborne.”

Work will be conducted during the school year, but after the school day, between 3:30 and 11 p.m., “so there will be no disruption,” DeMarino said.

The bids for new windows will go out in early April, DeMarino said.

“The survey has to be completed before the window bids go out,” he said.

Both surveys will be complete by the end of the month, DeMarino said.

The schools slated for the first phase of surveying are: Mawbey Street School, Oak Ridge Heights School, Lynn Crest School, Pennsylvania Avenue School, Matthew Jago School, Avenel Middle School, Colonia Middle School and Woodbridge High School.

The second phase of asbestos survey will include Kennedy Park School, Indiana Avenue School, Menlo Park Terrace School, Claremont Avenue School, Robert Mascenik School, Iselin Middle School and Woodbridge Middle School.

Although there are more schools included in the second phase of surveying, that contract is cheaper because the second phase does not include a high school, which contains more windows, DeMarino said.