SCRANTON, Pa. — A Scranton school is now closed indefinitely due to asbestos contamination.
Students there haven't been to class in four full days, and they have no idea when or if their school will reopen.
If you ask the students at Northeast Intermediate School what they've been doing since last Thursday, they all have the same answer:
"Nothing, just waiting."
"Nothing, really."
The school closed its doors on Thursday, along with three elementary schools, after environmental tests showed unsafe asbestos conditions.
"I heard one day we had off from school, and I was like, OK, this will just be over tomorrow."
But it wasn't over. The three elementary schools reopened on Monday, but Northeast Intermediate is closed indefinitely.
Now, four full school days later, students here say their mini-vacation is no longer fun.
"This is also not healthy for kids our age. We should really be in school learning," said seventh-grader Aidan Nolan.
"It's kind of nerve-wracking because you don't know anything, and we're just sitting, waiting, and nothing," said sixth-grader Adrianna Fenton.
"I miss all my friends, all my classes. I just want to be here because half the kids here that are my classmates, I actually think they're family to me," said seventh-grader David Arneil.
And that family could be split up. At a school board meeting Monday night, district officials floated the idea of dividing the nearly 900 students between South Scranton and West Scranton Intermediate schools.
Newswatch 16 saw crews moving desks and other pieces of furniture out of the school on Tuesday.
"It's hard because we were in the middle of learning a certain topic in each class and we'll have to wait until we go back to school to keep learning that and we'll have to review everything again," said sixth-grader Ellagrace Miseo
The parents of sixth graders Ellagrace Miseo and Adrianna Fenton are looking to enroll their daughters in cyber school, so their education isn't disrupted any further.
The Scranton School District is offering incentives in the form of gift cards to any Northeast students who complete coursework through the district's online portal.
Although seventh-graders David Arneil and Aidan Nolan didn't have class, they still paid a visit to their school to say a potential goodbye.
"Just look at it one last time before we go to different schools."
The school district is also offering free bagged lunches to Northeast Intermediate students. They can be picked up from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday at the Boys and Girls Club of NEPA and Electric City Academy.
The school's PTA has scheduled a dance for the students to take place this Saturday night at Scranton High School.