United States Attorney Announces Criminal Charges Against the Philadelphia School District Alleging Violations of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed criminal charges today against the School District of Philadelphia alleging violations of legal requirements to timely inspect, remediate, and report damaged asbestos in multiple city schools.

The United States and the School District of Philadelphia have entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in this case, which has been filed with the court today and remains subject to judicial review and approval.

This is the first time in the nation that a school district has been criminally charged with this type of environmental violation, and the first time that criminal violations under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) have been brought against a public entity. It is also the first use of a DPA in a case against a public school district in an AHERA case.

These charges are the result of a five-year investigation conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division (EPA-CID).

Legal Obligations Regarding Asbestos

Federal law requires school districts to safeguard their schools from airborne toxins, like asbestos, and timely inspect, remediate, and report any damaged asbestos. More specifically, the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) requires that, every three years, school districts conduct formal inspections of all buildings containing asbestos and remediate any damaged asbestos. 

In addition, every six months, all such buildings must undergo surveillance inspections, to ensure that areas containing asbestos remain safe. School districts are also responsible for promptly responding to and addressing internal reports and complaints of damaged asbestos and filing timely reports of these activities.

Asbestos

Asbestos was used in many building materials until the 1970s. Because it is an effective fire retardant and resisted overheating, it was a popular building material for many years.

When left intact and undisturbed, asbestos is safe. However, any damage or disturbance of asbestos can break and emit particles into the air that pose tremendous health hazards. Small shards of asbestos can become lodged in lung tissue, and can cause asbestosis, a chronic lung disease, and mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer.

The School District of Philadelphia has approximately 339 buildings, most of them quite old, almost 300 of which are known to contain asbestos.

The Charges and Facts

The information filed today sets forth eight criminal charges, arising from offenses allegedly committed between June 2018 and April 2023.

Counts One through Seven charge the school district with failing to conduct timely three-year inspections in seven specific schools: William Meredith Elementary; Building 21 Alternative High School; Southwark Elementary; S. Weir Mitchell Elementary; Charles W. Henry Elementary; Universal Vare Charter School; and Frankford High School.

Count Eight charges the school district’s failure to conduct timely six-month inspections at Building 21 Alternative High School.

By entering into the DPA, the school district has agreed to waive indictment by a grand jury.

The Deferred Prosecution Agreement

The pending DPA contains an agreed statement of facts, which sets forth in greater detail the findings of the investigation, including 61 specific facts detailing the asbestos problems in the schools, and the school district’s failures to address those problems.

The statement of facts demonstrates a longstanding and widespread problem of asbestos contamination in Philadelphia schools that endangered students and teachers, and, in some cases, foreclosed any education at all by requiring the closure of the school. The DPA lists 31 school buildings that had asbestos problems from April 2015 to November 2023. Some schools had multiple areas of damaged asbestos, which posed continuing and repeated problems and sometimes went unattended or were improperly addressed. In the worst instances, schools had to be shuttered. The investigation also uncovered some instances in which damaged asbestos was improperly addressed, including the use of duct tape to cover it up.

As filed, the terms of the DPA provide that the school district’s actions will be monitored by the federal court to ensure compliance with the law.

If the school district maintains compliance, the United States Attorney’s Office and DOJ can drop the criminal charges after a period of time. If the school district fails to do so, it faces criminal sanctions. The term of the DPA and its mandated monitoring is approximately five years.

“This deferred prosecution agreement, if approved, affords the government the highest available level of prosecutorial and judicial oversight over the School District of Philadelphia and its efforts to comply with its legal obligations to provide safe schools,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “Most importantly, the DPA provides the best possible platform for students, teachers, staff, and others who may spend time in our schools to breathe clean air free of asbestos.”

“EPA is committed to pursuing the prosecution of knowing violations of our nation’s environmental laws, especially where such lawbreaking could result in harm to students and teachers on school grounds,” said Special Agent in Charge Allison Landsman of EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division. “This resolution requires additional accountability on the School District of Philadelphia to ensure protections are in place to prevent future asbestos exposure.”

This case was investigated by the EPA-CID, Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Troyer, and Department of Justice trial attorney Ronald Sarachan. AUSA Troyer is prosecuting the case.