Asbestos abatement at Lehighton Area Middle School could cost between $125,000 and $200,000, according to an estimate provided at Monday night's district construction workshop.

Jeff Miller, of JMSI Environmental Corporation of Swoyersville, revealed the results of a Sept. 17 asbestos abatement inspection commissioned last month by the district's board of directors."The study revealed what we anticipated," Miller said. "There are several types of materials containing asbestos in the school."A large amount is the floor tiles, which are original to the building. Other asbestos is in the thermal system installation fittings. This is where a pipe would make a bend or a connection."There is also asbestos inside the wall cavities, where there are plumbing fixtures, Miller said.Chalk and tack board mastic would also be sampled during the first phase of abatement.Miller said any abatement would be done over holiday breaks or extended weekends when children and staff are out of the building for at least three days at a time.According to a proposed timeline, work would start over the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 26-Dec. 1, and finish on June 30, slightly less than a month after Lehighton's scheduled last day of class in 2015."There is a lot of flexibility with that," Miller said. "We didn't schedule anything for January, partly because you never know what the weather is going to do and to allow for that flexibility in the scheduling."A major concern from the public has been the safety of students and staff, even though the work would be completed over breaks.Miller said on Monday that aggressive testing would be done to make sure the building is fit to hold classes after each block of work is completed."We're going to have tests that are sent to outside labs and we also test right there on site," Miller said."We're not only going to be testing in the area where we are doing the work, we'll also be testing in neighboring sections of the building."So if a teacher has concerns because work was being done in the classroom next to her, we can show her the data that says we tested seven different times during the day and you're good to go. A lot of what we're dealing with is non-friable asbestos and that makes for a higher clearance rate."Board member Rocky Ahner isn't worried."JMSI are professionals who know what is going on," he said. "I don't think the public should be scared about what is happening."Miller said nearly 10 general contractors interested in bidding have contacted him.A bid opening is scheduled for Oct. 23 and the district could award the bid at its Oct. 27 meeting.The final price could depend on whether the district decides to remove asbestos in the auditorium ceiling, a move that was recommended by Miller."My concern is that we have such great acoustics in that room, that I'd hate to see us lose that," Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said.According to Miller, the possibility exists to use SonaKrete, an acoustical finish system, after the asbestos is scraped away."I think the average bid will be around $125,000 without doing the auditorium and $200,000 by doing the auditorium," Miller added.He said the auditorium has about 11,250 square feet of asbestos-containing plaster material.The auditorium will be bid as an alternate, giving the board the option of adding it to the project.The abatement is being done ahead of a proposed $10.7 million renovation to the middle school, which could include an energy savings component through Trane Comprehensive Solutions.