SCRANTON, Pa. — Inside a room at the Scranton School District's Administration Building, Pennsylvania's Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the arrests of three former Scranton School District officials.
Former superintendent Dr. Alexis Kirijan, former Director of Operations Jeff Brazil, and former Maintenance Supervisor Joseph Slack were all charged with several felony child endangerment counts, as well as numerous misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment.
Those arrests came on the recommendations of a grand jury, which found the three willfully withheld the findings of asbestos and lead contaminations inside several district schools.
Michelle Dempsey is a parent of four Scranton School District students, and she is also a school board member, appointed to a vacancy in April.
"You think the people in power are there to protect your children. You would hope that they're there, making decisions with the best interests of your children, their teachers, their staff,” said Dempsey.
Shapiro said that from 2016 to 2019, Kirijan, Brazil, and Slack were repeatedly given reports of dangerous levels of lead and asbestos in the schools, yet not one of them shared that information with the public.
Rosemary Boland, the teachers union president, says these arrests prove they were being intentionally kept in the dark.
"Every time our teachers spoke out, every time our para's [professionals] spoke out, we've had maintenance people sick, and it was if we were bothering them,” said Boland.
"To think that somebody in power would disregard health, the people, the people that they were supposed to protect, ultimately was disgraceful,” said Erik Demeraski.
The attorney general said he wanted to make it very clear that when the current leadership of the district was notified about these issues at its schools, immediate action was taken.
"Be open and honest and upfront and transparent, and to hear the attorney general acknowledge that today, I was certainly proud to be a small part of that team,” said current school board president Katie Gilmartin.
The attorney general said each of those felony counts the three face have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.