All Philadelphia schools set to open in September amid asbestos challenges

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- After several Philadelphia schools were closed due to asbestos damage earlier this year, the district says all schools will be open in September.

Asbestos challenges led to the closure of Mitchell Elementary and Frankford High School this spring.

The district says work on asbestos damage at Mitchell is almost done. The school will reopen on September 5.

Frankford High School students in grades 10 through 12 will return to their normal building next month. But because of ongoing work on the 'older wing' of the building, the high school's ninth graders will attend classes at Clemente Middle School.

Philadelphia City Councilman Isaiah Thomas led a virtual hearing on Wednesday regarding the state of school facilities.

Joan Dipre, a rising senior at Frankford, spoke at the hearing about the sudden closure of his school in April.

"Everybody was wondering where we were going. What we were going to do. What next year would look like for seniors," Dipre said.

Meantime, the school district and the city have announced a settlement to resolve how environmental hazards are managed in school buildings.

According to the agreement, the district will inspect all school buildings twice annually and post reports from those inspections online.

The agreement also allocates $2.5 million from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health to the district to improve data management associated with environmental hazard reporting.

The 6abc data team found that since 2016, there have been more than 2,400 asbestos removal projects at Philadelphia district schools. On average, those projects spanned about 38 days from planned start to planned completion.

According to Philadelphia school officials, there are 300 buildings within the district. The average age of those buildings is 73 years old.

Superintendent Tony Watlington said it will take a collaborative effort to tackle the issue of aging infrastructure.

"It is no secret we have significant facility challenges in the School District of Philadelphia," he said during Wednesday's virtual hearing.

The first day of school in Philadelphia is September 5.