Report Indicates Possible Seismic Issues with Schools Here, Throughout State

Flooding seemed to be a more immediate threat in recent weeks than an earthquake around the Twin Cities, but the state is taking a closer look at how two schools in the area would fare in the case of the Big One.

A 19-month California Watch investigation released Thursday uncovered holes in the state's enforcement of seismic safety regulations for public schools. 

has two decades-old building projects that were deemed potentially unsafe by the state. There is another similar project at Neil Cummins Elementary. These are usually older portables that weren't meant to be permanent structures. In some statewide cases, the issue can be that paperwork to certify proper project completion was never turned in.

Maps released for Larkspur and for Corte Madera detail that while neither school is near a fault line, they both received letters from the state regarding potential building safety issues in the event of a major earthquake.

California began regulating school architecture for seismic safety in 1933 with the Field Act, but data taken from the Division of the State Architect’s Office shows 20,000 school projects statewide never got final safety certifications. In the crunch to get schools built within the last few decades, state architects have been lax on enforcement, California Watch reported. 

A separate inventory completed nine years ago found 7,500 school buildings with possible seismic risks in the state. Yet, California Watch reports that only two of those schools have been able to access a $200 million fund for upgrades. 

Assembly Bill 300 was passed in 1999 requiring the state to compile a seismic safety inventory of California’s K-12 school buildings. If the state deems schools might possibly be unsafe in the event of an earthquake, it will send an AB 300 letter to the school district.

While ending up on the AB 300 list of potentially seismically risky schools can indicate dangerous safety issues, it can also signify a simple lapse in certification paperwork, even if safety upgrades have already been made.

A total of 38 projects in Marin County have received AB 300 letters – including both Kent Middle School and Bacich Elementary in Kentfield. Ross and San Geronimo also had zero schools with AB 300 problems.

The most serious warning from the Division of the State Architect is a so-called Letter 4, presumably due to the most dangerous cases of noncompliance. According to California Watch, the DSA has a list of nearly 20,000 school projects that are uncertified – and about 1,000 of the schools on that list were at some point given Letter 4 warnings.

In Marin, just one project – at in San Rafael – has received a Letter 4, according to California Watch.

The relative safety of our schools doesn’t mean we’re not at risk for an earthquake, however, and residents should be prepared in the event of an emergency.

This story was produced using data provided to Patch by California Watch, the state's largest investigative reporting team and part of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Read more about Patch's collaboration with California Watch.