Canberra parents are calling for improved contingency planning after 16 public schools were abruptly closed due to asbestos-tainted decorative sand. Liane Joubert, whose son Janku attends Cranleigh School in Holt, said she learned of the closure via a call from his specialist bus service early Thursday morning. The ACT government shut the schools after traces of chrysotile asbestos were found in Kadink Decorative Sand, a product used for sensory play and arts and crafts.
Joubert described the situation as chaotic, noting that parents had to scramble to arrange support workers and childcare. 'It was a bit of a chaos situation, trying to figure out logistics,' she said. She also expressed concern that her son, who 'eats everything,' may have ingested the sand, which had been in the school for some time. 'There's definitely a bit of fear that exposure might be more than we think initially,' she added.
ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry reassured families that the risk of asbestos exposure was low, but said the closures were a necessary precaution. 'We wanted to reassure people around the risk being low but also making sure that people were aware that we were identifying, isolating and remediating all potential risks,' she stated. The Australian Education Union backed the decision, with branch president Angela Burroughs saying, 'Safety has to come first.'
Deputy director-general Angela Spence said parents would be notified by Sunday afternoon whether their child's school would reopen on Monday. Joubert, however, advised other parents to prepare for further disruptions, noting that schools were doing their best to provide supervision. The recall of Kadink Decorative Sand was issued earlier this week by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
