Seismic Safety in Schools Not a Top Budget Priority

Taking the required steps to certify that school buildings would be as safe as possible during an earthquake might be impossible for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District as it struggles with a seriously shrinking budget, local officials say.

Most of the district's schools are near seismic hazards, such as landslide zones, and several of them have construction projects that have not been given final certification for meeting earthquake safety standards by the Division of the State Architect.

Pearl Iizuka, the district's deputy superintendent of business services, called for “legislative relief” to help with the cost of evaluating whether more could be done to ensure school safety.

“We’re trying to, at this point, survive … to provide education for the kids,” Iizuka told Patch. “Anything beyond that … is impossible for us to even look at.”

According to data compiled by California Watch—a group of journalists focused on investigative reporting in the state—PVPUSD has multiple schools with uncertified construction projects. California Watch reported Thursday that, in  a 19-month investigation, it had uncovered holes in the state's enforcement of seismic safety regulations for public schools.

California began regulating school construction for seismic safety in 1933 under the state Field Act, a legislative response to the magnitude 6.4 Long Beach earthquake of that year. Under the law, all K-12 public school buildings are supposed to be evaluated for quake safety.

However, data taken from the state architect's office shows 20,000 school projects statewide have never gotten 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 seismically risky school buildings in the state. Yet, California Watch reports that only two schools have been able to access a $200-million fund for upgrades.

in Rancho Palos Verdes and Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Rolling Hills Estates were once listed as having “Letter 4” deficiencies by the DSA, under the terms of the Field Act. (Click here to see an interactive map.)

Projects with a Letter 4 status represent those in which documentation was never submitted to the DSA to prove that issues such as structural deficiencies or health and safety concerns were resolved, DSA spokesman Eric Lamoureux said.

The schools have since been given "Letter 3" certifications by the DSA. Other schools with Letter 3 construction projects include , and Palos Verdes High.

Letter 3 designations are often applied to projects in which significant final documentation reports have not been submitted to the DSA or there are unpaid fees that prevent the DSA from closing the project with certification, Lamoureux said.

Iizuka was not aware of the Letter 4 identification of certain schools in the district or what might have been done to warrant their revised certifications.

Lamoureux said school district failure to submit proper project documentation to the state office often results in letter designations, like those given to PVPUSD schools.

"What we have in those projects are largely final documents that are missing," he said. "That single document in and of itself is not something that concerns us."

State law allows school districts to occupy buildings prior to receiving DSA certification, he said.

"Oftentimes ... our districts will make the determination that all issues have been resolved, [and] it is safe to occupy," he said, adding sometimes it takes months or years before a district will take all the final steps to get a building certified.

Letters are being sent to district superintendents and board members this week by the DSA's office to remind school officials of Letter 4 issues not yet certified. According to DSA records, there currently are no PVPUSD schools with Letter 4 issues.

Lamoureux also said if the DSA office suspected there were health and safety issues at project sites in the district, it would consider taking legal action.

Iizuka was familiar with a 2002 AB 300 report, which is an inventory of school buildings with potentially dangerous seismic hazards. Multiple projects on this list were reported in PVPUSD, some at Miraleste Elementary School.

“There hasn’t been any change since that list,” she said.

Schools in the district flagged by the state as having potential problems might not actually represent any kind of safety issue, Iizuka said. 

“That has to still get verified,” she said. “Maybe there is a problem … [but] there might not be a problem.”

She pointed to seismic structural assessments the district could approve, which are needed to determine if there are concerns at certain schools.

But determination of school safety is halted by the district’s limited resources, Iizuka said, with an evaluation price tag anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000.

“We just don’t have the funding to be able to do that,” she said. “[We] haven’t been able to verify that concern truly exists. … The seriousness of it hasn’t been verified.”

And though it’s difficult to say which schools might be evaluated if the district had the money, Iizuka said improvements would likely be made with such evaluations.

“I’m sure that if we did the evaluation, we would find ways to continually look to make our buildings better,” she said.

Current construction projects are up to state code, said Matt Covella, director of maintenance and operations for the district.

“The new construction has to meet that criteria,” he said. “All schools in our district were approved under the [Division of the State Architect] when they were built.”

Schools in the district also participate in drills and training to prepare for disasters, such as earthquakes. Peninsula Principal Mitzi Cress said her school is “constantly reassessing” safety procedures and school disaster plans.

“We’re looking at … the safety and training of our students, making sure everyone knows what to do in case something happens,” Iizuka said. “That’s going to save lives too.”

Iizuka said she couldn't say students and staff in the district were entirely safe in the buildings.

“There’s no guarantee," she said.

Keep watching RPV Patch for updates on this story as more information becomes available.