The School District of Philadelphia was criminally charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for failure to protect its students from several schools from asbestos exposure.
The case has the school district and the U.S. Attorney's Office entering a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), which was filed on Thursday. The former voted to sign the DPA, which allows them to waive a grand jury indictment.
Philadelphia School District Faces Criminal Charges
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed the charges against the school district after it accused them of violating legal requirements to inspect, remediate, and report damaged asbestos in various schools promptly.
The development makes the Philadelphia School District the first in the country to face criminal charges relating to violations under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). It has also become the first school district to make use of a DPA in dealing with a case, according to NBC Philadelphia.
The charges against the school district come after a five-year investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Department of Justice (DOJ), Environmental Crimes Section, and the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigations Division (EPA-CID).
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School districts are required, under federal law, to keep their schools safe from various airborne toxins, including asbestos. They must also inspect, remediate, and report any damaged asbestos in a timely manner.
District officials are also accused of having "purposely" delayed inspections and "knowingly and regularly failed to make necessary repairs." The case comes as many school buildings in Philadelphia are old and need repairs, Chalkbeat reported.
Addressing Dangerous Asbestos Exposure
In the past few years, the district has been forced to close down several schools because of asbestos, which forced students to relocate to other institutions in the middle of the school year.
The official investigation started in 2020, and officials examined the school district's asbestos monitoring program between 2015 and 2023. They then found longstanding and widespread issues regarding asbestos contamination in schools within the city.
Authorities added that the district's approach to the situation put students and teachers in harm's way, and in some cases, foreclosed any education at all by "requiring the closure of the school."
To note, asbestos is a construction material that was widely used until the 1980s, and it has been repeatedly linked to cancer and lung disease. The DPA notes that the school system has now improved its policies, procedures, and compliance in regard to asbestos inspections and abatement, as per ABC News.
