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6888563 
Journal Article 
Newspaper 
ASBESTOS IN THE SCHOOLS: The Making of a Crisis; Scramble on Asbestos Is Symptom of Years Of Wider Physical Deterioration in Schools: [News Analysis] 
Barbanel, J 
1993 
0 
New York Times
ISSN: 0362-4331
EISSN: 1553-8095 
New York, N.Y. 
New York Times 
English 
"There we were telling parents that the schools were safe and they were asbestos-free and there was water falling on my head," Mr. [Meyer S. Frucher] said later. "And most of the damaged asbestos was caused by leaking roofs and windows." There is now a backlog of 44,000 repair orders, known in school parlance as "PO 18's," each ranked in priority on a scale from 1 to 5. But except for the work of small "roving SWAT" teams" in Brooklyn and Queens, paid for by discretionary funds of the borough presidents, most non-emergency repairs are not carried out, until they become emergencies. "Too many people blame the bureaucracy, they don't look at the cold cash," said Noreen Connell, executive director of the Educational Priorites Panel, an advocacy group and a critic of the custodians' contract. "Even if everybody behaved wonderfully, there wouldn't be enough money to go around." 
General Interest Periodicals--United States; EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS; ASBESTOS; REPAIR SERVICES; NEW YORK CITY; FRUCHER, MEYER S; BARBANEL, JOSH; Cortines, Ramon C Jr