Schools

'Are Castro Valley Schools Earthquake Safe?'

A database created by the state's largest investigative reporting team lists five Castro Valley schools as missing seismic safety certification. But the information is out of date compared with a local five-year course of extensive seismic upgrades.

If the big one hits Castro Valley, don't be in Mike Bush's office at Castro Valley Unified School District.

His office is in the one building in the 14-campus district that isn't being upgraded for earthquake safety even though it was named in a 2005 survey as needing work.

In the professional opinion of structural engineers who conducted the earthquake safety survey, parts of his building are at risk of partial collapse.

Find out what's happening in Castro Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That risk earned it a rating of 3 on a 1-to-10 scale, with 1 being the worst. A rating of 1 means "imminent hazard of collapse following a major earthquake and should be closed." A rating of 10 means "complies with 2001 California Building Code" and "damage following a major earthquake should be repairable."

Five years of retrofitting to be completed this summer

Find out what's happening in Castro Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Over the past five years, the school district has been modernizing and reinforcing buildings with ratings of 1, 2 or 3, said Bush, assistant superintendent of business services, who oversees such projects.

"By the end of this summer, we will have addressed every school building," Bush said. The last of the upgrades will begin the Monday after school lets out this June and will be finished in August before the children return, he said.

The elementary schools last to get the improvements will be , and .

Should parents be worried about the two and half months left in this school year?

"Those schools have been there 50 years, and they have not fallen down," Bush said. "I know how serious an earthquake would be. I don't take it lightly. But it's been that way for a long time now."

Seismic upgrades have been completed at Castro Valley, Chabot, Palomares and Stanton elementary schools, and Castro Valley High School and Creekside Middle School.

Schools that didn't need upgrades, according to the 2005 survey, are Canyon Middle and Castro Valley AdultRedwood Alternative was rebuilt in 2008 and is essentially a new school.

With gigantic tsunamis and earthquakes in the headlines and, people are asking:

"Is my child's school safe?"

Short answer: You never know. 

Bush, who works inside the school district office with the rating of 3 (possibility of partial collapse), doesn't seem nervous about his own safety, even though his building is the only one in the district that isn't getting seismic upgrades.

"No, I'm not worried," he said.

Castro Valley schools named in investigative reporting team's study

Five of Castro Valley's schools appear in California Watch's database, which features an interactive map of data originating from a 1978 list of the types of structures used at schools and whether they are suitable for an earthquake zone. A woodframe building was considered OK; unreinforced masonry was not, according to the 1978 list.

The 1978 list resurfaced in 2002 as part of a state report called Seismic Safety Inventory of California Schools. That report came about in response to Assembly Bill 300, authored by Ellen Corbett and signed by the governor in 1999. 

The  bill required the state Department of General Services to conduct a seismic safety inventory of California’s K-12 school buildings. The 2002 report is sometimes called the AB300 report, which is now the basis for the California Watch report.

The "AB300 report" concluded that more than 7,000 of 9,959 schools require a detailed seismic evaluation.

California Watch creates map linking state data to geological features

The California Watch report goes a step further to overlay this data with other data, such as proximity to a major fault or the likelihood of "liquefaction," which means normally solid ground acts like a fluid when shaken by an earthquake. The result is landslides and collapses that leave holes in the ground.

About the California Watch investigation

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

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 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. 

How you can use this information

California Watch's interactive map shows which of the schools on the AB300 list are near faults and in liquefaction zones. The map lets viewers choose a county, city or school from a drop-down menu and see where the schools are in relation to major faults, etc.

However, the AB300 list is outdated and incomplete, and was intended to give state legislators a sense of the magnitude of potential problems. The Legislature then asked school districts to conduct their own detailed studies.

The interactive map is outdated; Castro Valley has since been retrofitted

Fortunately for Castro Valley, the local school district did just that.

In response to the AB300 guidance, CVUSD commissioned a detailed survey of all school buildings, resulting in a 2005 report by Dasse Design Inc., a structural engineering firm.

The district then passed a $44 million bond measure (Measure B) to raise money for seismic upgrades and other projects, such as new science labs, improved school libraries, security fences and ventilation for a multi-purpose room.

The measure won 63.6 percent of the vote, easily meeting the 55 percent requirement. The money ran out before all the work was done, Bush said, because construction costs rose around 30 percent during the housing bubble.

The district applied for and got $3.5 million in state money set aside for building modernization, and is now soliciting bids for the remaining work at the last three schools. The design of the remaining work has been under way since December, Bush said.

The final steps will be completed by the end of this summer

Work to be done at the three remaining schools includes modifications that minimize the possibility of broken glass, for example.

At Vannoy, classroom walls that are mostly windows will get "infill with structural shear wall." That means the classrooms will each lose two windows, one on each end of the classroom, and gain extra bracing there that serves to strengthen the side walls as well.

"A lot of this stuff is corrected in a very simple way," Bush said.

In some cases, windows will be replaced by walls. Other upgrades are meant to prevent the collapse of covered walkways. All three campuses will get "structural roof strapping and associated roof patching." Seven buildings will get new roofs.

The school district's point of view: Get expert help and act on it

"The true value of the AB300 study was that it brought this very important issue to the eyes of the Legislature," Bush said in an email responding to initial questions about the California Watch investigation. "However, the study itself was not sufficient or comprehensive enough to base decisions.  

"Locally here in Castro Valley, the district decided not to rely on the quick review of old plans as described above. 

"Rather, the district conducted its own independent evaluation by contracting with a licensed structural engineer to identify buildings that may pose a seismic risk and to assist the district in prioritizing necessary actions to be taken.

"Upon completion of the seismic work the district has planned for this summer, the district will have addressed all of our most susceptible buildings," Bush wrote.

Specifics of the upgrades for the three remaining schools are listed in the March 24, 2011, school board agenda, available as a PDF on the school district's website.

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 with California Watch. 


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