NY1 VIDEO: As NY1 revisits its 20-year history, the station looks back at reporter Jonathan Dienst's August 1993 coverage as it was revealed that a contractor hired by the city to inspect for asbestos in schools had done dangerously shoddy work for years, prompting the re-testing for all 1,069 schools.
NY1 FOLLOW-UP: To allow inspections of all schools, the first day of school in 1993 was moved back from Sept. 9th to Sept. 20th. In the end, asbestos levels were found to be very low in almost all schools. Only a small fraction of schools underwent asbestos abatement or removal.