About 400 Kensington High School students and 90 staff members will start the school year at a different building after an asbestos issue was discovered during an HVAC project at their Philadelphia school. Students and staff are being relocated to the former Austin Meehan Middle School in Mayfair , more than nine miles from Kensington High School. The district plans for them to remain there until January. The temporary school already has a Kensington High School sign outside as preparations are underway for students and staff to arrive. But with the start of school less than a week away, the quick transition is raising concerns. Arthur Steinberg, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said staff members are frustrated by how the situation was communicated. “If you’re going to ask how the district, the staff is feeling, they’re angry. They’re angry at what they feel is a lack of proper communication,” Steinberg said. Steinberg said the union first learned about the asbestos issue during the summer and shared the information with its members. Then, the district announced Thursday that the students and staff would move to the vacant middle school, which has been used as swing space. When asked how the start of the school year might have been different if the district had planned for the closure and relocation earlier, Steinberg said additional time would have made a difference. “People would have had more time to plan. They wouldn’t have to scramble like they do now,” Steinberg said. The district said in a letter that shuttle service will be provided to and from Meehan for students who are not already assigned to a yellow bus or another vehicle. The shuttle service does not include staff. The move is also raising concerns among people in Mayfair about traffic and congestion. “The folks we’re hearing from are the folks that live in that immediate neighborhood that are going to be affected with congestion, all the things that come along with more people coming to that neighborhood that was already over congested,” Philadelphia City Councilmember Mike Driscoll said. Driscoll also raised concerns about bringing Kensington High School students to a location near the larger Lincoln High School. “So now you have Lincoln High School, and now you’re bringing another high school right next door. I think back to my days going to high school. If a rival high school was coming on the same campus, that’s a formula for a problem. So I’m concerned about students from Lincoln and Kensington and everybody getting along,” Driscoll said. The district has said a comprehensive school safety plan will be shared before school begins. In a statement sent late Monday night, the School District of Philadelphia explained that a third-party contractor removed material containing asbestos without their permission and has since been removed from the district. For anyone families within the Kensington High School community who wish to speak with school leaders, there are four upcoming meetings: In-person family meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Kensington CAPA. Virtual option on Wednesday, Aug. 19 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. KHS Open House on Friday, Aug. 21 from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Austin Meehan  KHS Open House on Saturday, Aug. 22 from 10 a.m. to noon at Austin Meehan Also, officials said that it is on schedule with its ongoing asbestos inspections for all district buildings. To see how your school is impacted, click here for the district’s log. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less