Educators want new asbestos guidelines

The superintendent should be to blame. How could he be so careless and thoughtless? From what I have seen this is his standard method of operation. This makes CAPO look like nothing. This is something that will impact peoples lives for years to come! Why is he still working there?

"School officials alerted the community that they would be removing hazardous materials through public meetings, and they posted signs at the work sites warning of hazardous materials, said Carl Erickson, administrator of human resources."

Who exactly are these "School officials" and when and where were these "public meetings" held?

I hope that they don't try to use the call for bids as parental/public notification. Also, in my opinion, posted signs are not enough to warn a campus of the dangers. The entire area/building should have been closed and/or work done during non student days. Remember, Troy has a Special Ed program and many of these students can't read or understand the signs.

Is this fair to the special education program there at TRHS when so many kids do not read, write, or understand if anything was posted or said. There was no information sent home to these parents. What is wrong with this district when they have no concerns or cares for the staff and the students? The superintendent is only concerned with his large raise of fifty nine thousand dollars that he gave himself.

My girls go to Fullerton High School and when we got our notice in the mail I asked my daughters if they had seen any work being done inside the roof and they tell me the tiles were falling on kids all year and they also saw open areas in the roof of class rooms. This is crazy! The kids have no choice in the matter, they have a class in a room where it is being removed durring summer school and they have to go. I was under the impression that asbestos was too dangerous to remove from anywhere and it was to be4 sealed up instead of removed. I cannot beleive what danger they are exposing my children to. At least dont use the class rooms where the work is being done!

In response to Mello, that is terrible. That needs to be reported to OSHA and to the newspapers and news media. Think how many people are being exposed to asbestos which causes cancer. I am so sorry that your daughters must attend school with that type of health exposure. Obviously the superintendent doesn’t care and the Fullerton High School District Board members don’t care. Why would they not make it safe for kids? They will even do the asbestos removal while kids are at school. If they gave them any time off they would lose ADA money. And George Giokaris doesn’t want that. He’s out to save money anyway he can so he can get his $70,000 plus raise a year bringing him up to $229,000 a year. This is more than the governor of the State of California makes by the way. Instead of spending the money on his raise, the board should have spent the money on making the schools safe and hiring the right people to oversee the job. But I guess the superintendent’s raise came first. All FJUHSD board members should be recalled and George Giokaris should be fired.

This district knows the proper way to do asbestos abatement. They have done it correctly in the past. I know for a fact that when they did the abatement at Fullerton Union’s administration building the whole building and surrounding area was closed and signage was posted. I don’t remember if they sent any information home to the parents but at least the building was handled by professionals. I wonder why the same steps weren’t taken at Troy. Could it be that in the RUSH to get the job done on time/in budget they were willing to take a chance and let the building be occupied during abatement?

Because the board members don't care about the students, staff and teachers.

The California Education Code says the school districts are to have a safe place for the students for their education. Looks like George Giokaris does not give the students a safe place. What is going to happen five to twenty years from now when they all have health problems from the asbestos? Who is going to pay all the medical bills?

The district is going to be liable for all the medical bills and pain and suffering lawsuits. I can't believe this George Giokaris and how evil he really is. He has always been like this though. Everyone is saying that it's a good thing he got the raise because he's going to need the money for the lawsuits!

Definitely true. He only cares about himself. My husband and I are willing to give thousands of dollars in campaign funds to any board member that will run against the current evil ones at FJUHSD.

This with asbestos and George Giokaris sounds like Jonesburg all over again. The only thing is George Giokaris is killing teachers, staff and students a slow death, not a fast one.

I just want to say to the Troy teachers that we admire you for everything you stand for. And that you truly are the community heroes. We will continue to pray for you and ask that you be strong and not back down to Giokaris or the district who would like to sweep this under the rug. There are many at the other schools and district employees who hold you in the highest esteem. Stay strong!

What advice to you have for Sonora students and staff who are currently undergoing modernization (which includes asbestos abatement) considering the fact that ITS AN INDOOR SCHOOL.

To Parent from Sonora, with the past record in the other FJUHS it would not be safe. Don't listen to George Giokaris that it is.

I wouldn't send my kids to school when it was undergoing construction, unless you want to send your kid to school with a mask. If it had to be done, that section of the school should be closed down completely and ensure that no kids were around. Still, I would request the work be done when kids were not present.

The parents and students were not told this construction was going on. The parents and students find out after it was already started. That puts the school board and George Giokaris at blame. They should of notified everyone concerned.

And Giokaris wants to blame the teachers. He's nothing but a scrawny OLD slime ball.

I think parents need to be firm against this evil superintendent George Giokaris. He will stop at nothing to belittle the teachers at Troy High School and is even threatening them. They haven't done anything wrong and he is the one not letting people have their freedom of speech. He will never be able to control what he has unleashed upon Troy and we won't give up until he finally resigns or is fired.

If George Giokaris would keep his big nose out of the construction and leave it to the Construction Manager the district has hired maybe this would not of happened. But George Giokaris as a passed football coach and german teacher thinks he knows it all.

I don't think George was ever a football coach. He doesn't have the build for it. Doug Kimberly was a coach and that's about all he can do. George controls every move Doug makes and it renders Doug helpless.