El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 99B, No. 45, Ed. 1 Saturday, August 25, 1984 Page: 1 of 26
twenty six pages : ill. ; page 23 x 16 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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Asbestos Tests Still Inconclusive
By CYNTHIA L. MILLER
The air still hasn’t cleared
on the asbestos controversy
in El Campo Independent
School District.
The most recent of four
tests to determine whether
asbestos is present in ECISD
showed no trace of the
substance. However, the
laboratory which determined
high concentrations of the
material were in the same
rooms in earlier test is stan-
ding by its results.
Trustees were prepared to
spend thousands of dollars to
remove or encapsulate the
substance, and had followed
current Environmental Pro-
tection Agency regulations,
which require only that warn-
ing notices be posted stating
test results and telling how to
avoid exposure.
The 1983-84 budget had
$50,000 set aside to begin
removal, and, until the
negative test results were
received, trustees were fac-
ing expenses of up to $700,000
for removal.
An article published in the
Aug. 15 issue of the Leader-
News mistakenly said that
tests run by Continental
Technical Services (C-Tek) of
Dallas used phase contrast
By K \ V B \< ON
El Campo I SI) students
returned to school this week
under a new discipline code,
called a “students’ rights”
code by some, which is
causing school adminstrators
some confusion and concern.
As a result, school
discipline may be hampered,
rather than enhanced, ac-
cording to Bill Dowden,
superintendent of ECISD.
The code, adopted by the
state legislature in a special
session in June, was designed
by its authors to force school
administrators to cope longer
with student disciplinary
problems before the
suspension or expulsion of
such students, according to
Jim Harriston, Austin at-
torney for ECISD
I'nder the new code, the
only way a student can be
immediately suspended or
expelled, w ithout due process
of a hearing, or placement in
an alternative educational
microscopy to identify
asbestos in bulk samples Ac-
cording to Virgil Doty, senior
account executive with
C-Tek, polarized light
microscopy was used in the
two bulk-sample tests sent to
its lab in Dallas, one in May,
1983 and another a year later.
Phase contrast micro-
scopy, which only identifies
fibers and is not specific for
asbestos, is only used in air
sampling tests, Doty said
Polarized light microscopy is
specific for asbestos.
Because the EPA recom-
mends either polarized light
or X-ray defraction to iden-
tify asbestos, C-Tek uses
these methods, Doty said.
The polarized light test is
much less expensive, so it is
usually used. On the test
result sheet submitted to the
district by C-Tek last May,
there was no indication of the
type of test used
Southwestern Laboratories
of Dallas analyzed bulk
samples from the same
rooms after Thomas U.
Hollis, ECISD maintenance
director, told administration
officials that the materials
used in building ECISD cam-
puses contained no asbestos
The Southwestern report,
setting, is the assault by a
student on “a teacher or
other individual on school
property.”
The basic problem with the
code, Harriston said, is not its
goal, but its language, which
administrators statewide feel
is ambiguous and makes the
disciplinary process more
complicated than necessary
Harriston said the authors
of the bill quoted Texas
Education Code 21.301 on the
subject of “incorrigible,” or
uncontrollable, students
According to the education
code, incorrigible students
may be removed to an
alternative educational
setting But the discipline
code recently adopted could
Ik* interpreted to read that
only incorrigible students
may lx* removed to such a
setting
A student can Ik* deemed
incorrigible if “the student's
continued presence in the
regular classroom program
received by ECISD Aug 3,
showed “none detected’’
under each of six samples.
There is also a heading
stating that polarized light
microscopy was used.
When told of the situation
by the Leader-News Thurs-
day, Doty ordered an X-ray
defraction test run on ECISD
samples still on file at C-Tek s
laboratory, at no cost to the
newspaper or ECISD.
The results of the X-ray test
could not be released Friday.
Doty said that the company
would have to get permission
from ECISD before the test
results could be released. If
such permission is granted,
the te^t lesults will be
published in Wednesday’s
Leader-News
The first test, run by C-Tek
in May, 1983, showed that bet-
ween 5 percent and 40 percent
of material sampled was
asbestos Samples w ere taken
from 22 rooms at all cam-
puses. Bulk samples from six
of the same rooms showed
more than 20 percent higher
concentrations of asbestos in
another test run May 5, 1984
by the same lab (see chart,
page 2).
Karen Brown, spokesman
for the EPA, said in a sample
Ambiguous
or at the home campus
presents a clear, present, and
continuing danger of physical
harm to the student or to
other indi\ iduals."
A student can also be
deemed incorrigible if all of
the following three conditions
are met:
“The student has engaged
in serious or persistent
misbehavior that threatens to
impair the educational ef-
ficiency of the school; and
“The misbehavior violates
s}K*cific. published, stan-
dards of student conduct for
the district; and
“All reasonable alter-
natives to the student’s
regular classroom program,
including a variety of
discipline management
techniques, have been
exhausted.”
According to the due
process provision of the code,
these conditions must be
proved in a hearing, which
See DISCIPLINE. Page 3)
with 40 percent concentra-
tion, a deviation of only 1 to 5
percent would be expected.
“If there is a variation of 40
percent, something’s wrong,”
she said.
Both Doty and Lawrence
Simoneaux, who served as
asbestos consultant for
ECISD and submitted the
first samples to C-Tek, said
that “hot spots’’ in the
material could explain the
ditterences in test results.
Since asbestos-containing in-
sulation material was usually
sprayed on, higher concentra-
tions of the substance could
have collected in some areas,
causing the “hotspots”.
“When the material is mix-
ed, there is a great deal of
leeway,” Simoneaux said
“Two samples 10 feet apart
could show different results.”
Samples are about the size of
a quarter, he added.
Simoneaux admitted it was
“unusual” that all results
were about 20 percent higher
in the second test, but added
that he was “not alarmed” at
the variation.
“I’ll say this ... C-Tek has
very high credentials,”
Simoneaux said “I have the
utmost confidence in them.”
Though he occasionally has
(See ECISD, Page 2)
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Strike l /> The Hand
I \ Photo by ( within Mlilrr
Residents in the area of the high school have been waking up to music
these days — specifically, the music of the Hicehird marching band. New
director Mike Fassino is shaping the hand up for its first performance
this season. Sept. 7 at Hicehird Stadium.
Discipline
Reform Legislation
School Special
By .IKK in At LI)S
The school bell's insistent clang reaches more ears and
stirs younger hearts than you would think
Kevin, age 4. could barely contain himself in the
grocery line But then Kevin was on a kind of double bar
reled high First off, there was this new baby brother
“His name's Matthew ." sa'd Kevin proudly, “and he s
three months old' he informed us after a quick whispered
conference with his id
But most of Kevin s bubble and bounce was in anticipa
tion of going off to school I rn going to First Baptist ore
school.” he bubbled
And what did he e\p**< t from school" What would he
learn **
Rare wonderful thing* We re going to the circu* the
Farmer s Market and learn attout Jew us fie said in an
excited rush
The checker rang up the full and Kev in and Ins dad
were off to cuddle ha by brother Matthew and wait fot a
morning filled with (downs and vegetable* and .1 new
friend
The checker and I ext flanged a smile and sfie said
there would ’«• no (barge for the f»a< k to school
special
Harvest Results I arxinti
_._« e*
Cotton Is Best ’84 Crop Overall
Hv N XNC'Y l \\ KNDKK
(. otton may be the crop of
the year in the Wharton
County area Many farmers
took contracts when prices
were at 70 cents a pound
Approximately 95 percent of
the* area’s farmers con
traded for sale when prices
were at 65 cents or above,
estimated Bob Betts of F.l
< ampo Farmers ( o < >p They
should fare well
( otton prices reached 74
(cuts in the spring but the
current marke* price has
'ftop|«**d to around *>l cents,
•ii cording to lietts
torn among other crops is
in a depressed market
l*isiti<»n Mtltough la -1 year
baa I averages climte*d to
zo per hundredweight
<cwt>, this year's July-
August [lit price, the price the
farmer is paid when he
delivers his crop was $5 50.
according to Ronald Gran
tland Grantland is executive
director of the county
Agricultural Stahilization
and Conservation Service
office
However corn prices are
now holding at $l 15 cwt
Crops in the Midwest affect
prices locally and crop* there
look g(mk! If their harvest is
as good as expected It ( Mild
flirt her depi ess ioi a I pt ice
Another group lieirig hit
hard bv depressed prices at*
the ri(c farmers With roc
selling wav fa-low normal
at I1* cwt and breakeven
(lists reported to lie $12 to* a I
farmers are having another
tough year
Four years of overseas
competition with bumper
crops in Thailand make it
hard to compete, according to
Rusty Bergstrom of the Rice
F armers < o-t )p
Grain sorghum prices are
also down, according to
Grant land \ hundredweight
delivered to flic pit Hie price
farmers are paid has
dropped a dollar from $4 'to
cwt in mid June to an
average of $:<'«• currently
Wharton County lias l to ooo
,K res of gram sorghum said
John Cosper Wharton
i ii ii n t y Agricultural
Extension agent
I to* year was good bit
grow mg sorghum t#cause it
was dryer than usual There
is usually too much rain, said
Lee Carroll owner of Nine
I’oint Grain Inc The rain
came at the right time, tie
said It would have l*e«*n had
if not lor 1 ii«* June ram We
are very fortunate in
Wharton < ounty < arroll
said We are Messed
(at roll s customers
aveiaged a 1 non pounds per
aert yield I fns year - crop
wa* an <*x< client quality fie
said
Another good crop lor this
veat is cotton the turn out is
! In ) ((••ft dll trt'ttei and tto
grade of ( otton is also bet ter
Hi.in last year a<(ording to
Betts It tt» opening tin e and
. It |l I |»ag* I
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Barbee, Chris. El Campo Leader-News (El Campo, Tex.), Vol. 99B, No. 45, Ed. 1 Saturday, August 25, 1984, newspaper, August 25, 1984; El Campo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1018258/m1/1/: accessed July 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Wharton County Library.