Sierra Madre School May Be Unsafe in an Earthquake

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

Sierra Madre Elementary School is among thousands of California public schools that may have unresolved earthquake safety issues that could make the buildings hazardous--or worse--in the event of a major quake, according to data from the state of California.

The data show that the building located at 141 W. Highland Ave. carries a so-called “Letter 4” classification, as determined by the Division of the State Architect, meaning it contains uncertified projects whose safety-related deficiencies violate the Field Act. 

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 show 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.

Passed in the wake of the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Long Beach in 1933 and destroyed or damaged more than 230 school buildings, the Field Act was the first piece of legislation to mandate earthquake resistant construction standards for California schools.

Technically, violators of the Field Act can be charged with a felony, though the California Watch investigation found that the Division of the State Architect appears not to pursue violators.

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.

The California Division of the State Architect (DSA) completed a review of schools across the state in 2002 that showed thousands of California school buildings were unlikely to perform well in earthquakes and needed to be evaluated by structural engineers. 

These state records indicate that thousands of those projects across the state could still potentially collapse in an earthquake, including .

But due to incomplete record-keeping by the state and local school districts, confusion persists about whether some of the issues at buildings identified in 2002 have since been resolved even though they remain listed as potentially problematic.

That said, PUSD Chief Facilities Officer David Azcárraga told Patch this week that he believed the required work at SME was in fact completed between 2002 and 2003, using funding from Measure Y, a $240 million bond floated by the district to raise funds for school improvements.

However, Azcárraga was not certain about specific aspects of the project, nor was he able to provide documents certifying the project was completed. In fact, it’s those certification documents that are missing from the Division of the State Architect’s database. Azcárraga has said he will provide Patch with the proper documentation as soon as he tracks it down.

Assuming the work has been completed, the only issue may be that PUSD failed to submit the proper documentation to the DSA in order to close the case once and for all. Until then, SME will remain classified as Letter 4, according to DSA officials.

“The only true incentive that the district has at this point is that if they ever decide that they want to do any future construction activity on an uncertified project. We will not approve the plans for that project until they complete the certification,” DSA spokesman Eric Lamoureux said in a telephone interview.

To access an interactive map showing school seismic safety issues in Sierra Madre, click here.

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.

Patch Editors Dan Abendschein, Donna Baker and Nathan McIntire contributed to this report.