The embattled Philadelphia School District is facing yet another school closure due to asbestos concerns. With just about a week until the scheduled beginning of the school year, the school district announced that Kensington High School in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia is closed and is not expected to reopen until January 2027.
The closure stems from issues related to the installation of a new HVAC system over the summer. According to a letter written by district deputy superintendent of operations Oz Hill, an asbestos inspector voiced concerns that the demolition of the old system may have released legacy asbestos, forcing the school’s closure.
Instead, the 400 students and 90 staff at Kensington High will spend the first few months of the school year at Austin Meehan Middle School, about nine miles away in the Mayfair neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia.
“We know this delay is an unexpected disruption, and we are committed to working with school leaders and families to make this transition as smooth as possible,” wrote Oz Hill, district deputy superintendent of operations.
Asbestos can cause deadly diseases, including several types of cancer. Fine particles can be disturbed and sent into the air where students, teachers and others can inhale or swallow them without realizing.
Asbestos exposure is the only cause of mesothelioma, a rare type of cancer that starts in the lining of the lungs and abdominal cavity. Mesothelioma takes 20-50 years to develop, but the prognosis is very poor and most people who are diagnosed with the cancer die within two years.
Asbestos in Schools
Legacy asbestos, left behind in old buildings from a time when the material was commonly used as insulation, has caused school closures with some regularity in recent years. Legacy asbestos becomes dangerous when it deteriorates or is disturbed, which allows the mineral’s fine fibers to become airborne. If these microscopic fibers are inhaled, they can lead to cancer later in life.
As such, many of these school closures stem from construction or repair work during the summer months, when school is out of session. For instance, Alexandria Senior High School in Louisiana was recently shut down over asbestos concerns relating to summer renovation work, with students learning remotely for the start of the 2026-27 school year.
This is far from the first time that the Philadelphia School District has encountered issues with legacy asbestos. One of the largest school districts in the nation, it has faced a series of dozens of school closures since 2019, with asbestos found in roughly 300 of the district’s 339 buildings.
The problems became serious enough that federal prosecutors filed eight criminal charges against the School District of Philadelphia in June 2025, alleging violations of federal requirements for timely asbestos inspections. The district entered into a deferred prosecution agreement requiring approximately five years of court-monitored compliance; the charges may be dropped if the district meets those requirements.
As many of the school buildings currently in use in the United States are decades old, the issue of legacy asbestos will likely continue to lead to closures for years in the future. Read more about asbestos in schools on the Mesothelioma Guide website.
Sources & Author
- Asbestos concerns at Kensington High School are forcing students to relocate to another building. Philly Voice. Retrieved from https://www.phillyvoice.com/kensington-high-school-asbestos-austin-meehan-school/. Accessed on 08/17/2026.
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United States Attorney Announces Criminal Charges Against the Philadelphia School District Alleging Violations of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act. United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/united-states-attorney-announces-criminal-charges-against-philadelphia-school-district. Accessed on 08/20/2026.
