'Chaos situation' as potential asbestos exposure in coloured sand closes Canberra schools
Liane Joubert learnt on Friday morning that her son Janku's school was closed due to the risk of asbestos exposure. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
Canberran Liane Joubert learnt her son Janku's school would be closed this morning after receiving a call from his specialist bus service.
Janku's school, Cranleigh in Holt is among 16 public schools that the ACT government shut today after traces of asbestos were found in decorative coloured sand used for sensory play and arts and craft activities.
Earlier this week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a recall notice for Kadink Decorative Sand following laboratory testing that detected traces of chrysotile — a type of naturally occurring asbestos.
Ms Joubert said Cranleigh School was initially partially closed, but parents were later notified at 7:30am that the school would be fully closed for the entire day.
She said it was "quite a bit of disruption that early in the morning".
"For us, the first thing was to try and get a support worker in, so [my husband and I] can continue with work as much as possible," Ms Joubert said.
"It was a bit of a chaos situation, trying to figure out logistics. None of us has a support worker on stand-by 24/7.
"Unfortunately, our support worker wasn't available for the day, so we both had to put in half a day of carers leave."
Ms Joubert said she was also concerned Janku, whom she described as "one of those [kids] that just eats everything", may have eaten the decorative sand.
Liane Joubert says it is unclear how long the potentially hazardous sand product was used at the school. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
"It's been in the school — not just this week, it's been there for a while," she said.
"We don't really have any more information of how long the exposure has been, if at all, in what classes, and if it was just this batch that was delivered this week.
"There's definitely a bit of fear that exposure might be more than we think initially, depending on the impact of the asbestos in this product and how far back it does go in terms of supplying to the schools."
Ms Joubert said, despite the chaos caused by the sudden closure, overall everyone had done what they could.
"[The Education Directorate] sent out communication as soon as they became aware of the situation,"she said.
"I know our deputy principal and one of the amazing office ladies were at our school until eight last night to assist with the assessment of the situation at our school.
"I think everybody did what they could in the time frame that they had."
'Safety has to come first'
ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry says the risk of harm to students and staff is low. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)
ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry reassured families that the risk of asbestos exposure in the sand was low.
"We made the decision that [closing effected schools] was the best action to take as a precautionary measure, noting again that it is a low risk," she said at a press conference.
"It is [one] of those situations that if you don't take the action when you can, as immediately as you can, that can sometimes create more anxiety in the community.
"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 at our schools."
The ACT branch of the Australian Education Union, which represents teachers and school assistants working in public schools across the territory, has backed the government's decision to close the schools.
"I absolutely get that this causes an unwelcome disruption, but safety has to come first," branch president Angela Burroughs said.
Angela Burroughs says she understands the closures are disruptive, but ensuring the safety of students and staff must be the priority. (ABC News: David Scasci)
"WorkSafe ACT has identified it as low risk, but that doesn't mean you don't do anything about it.
"We're very reassured that the Education Directorate is responding by following expert advice."
Reopening update due Sunday
ACT Education Directorate deputy director-general Angela Spence said parents of impacted students should find out by Sunday afternoon if their school would reopen on Monday.
"We will be formalising communication through each of our schools of the impacted sites on Sunday afternoon," Ms Spence said.
"Should we be in a position to release information earlier, we will do that, because we know that the impact on families is pretty significant."
Liane Joubert will organise a support worker for her son Janku on Monday in case his school stays closed. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
Despite the possibility of Cranleigh School reopening on Monday, Ms Joubert said she would arrange a support worker for Janku and advised other parents to prepare for further closures.
"I think the wise thing would be to proactively have supports ready in case we have another day at home with kids,"she said.
"But from our experience … currently they will do everything they can to make sure our kids have at least supervision-level staffing at the school try and adjust to accommodate our families."