Seismic Investigation Shows Two San Carlos Schools Fail To Make The Grade

 In September 2008, two schools in San Carlos were flagged for failing to meet the standard set by California’s earthquake safety laws.

  and were both included in the state’s AB 300, a list of public school buildings that may fail to meet sufficient building standards, leaving them vulnerable to earthquakes.

 State regulators have routinely failed to enforce California’s landmark earthquake safety law on thousands of school construction projects, ignoring reported building code violations, structural flaws and other safety warnings over the past three decades, according to a 19-month California Watch investigation, which was released Thursday. The information uncovered by the independent, nonpartisan Center for Investigative Reporting found holes in the state's enforcement of seismic safety regulations for public schools.  

 The Division of the State Architect – the chief regulator of construction standards for public schools – has for years listed nearly 1,000 projects among its highest safety concerns but allowed children and teachers to occupy the buildings anyway, according to records and computer data reviewed by California Watch.

 These red-flagged buildings were among nearly 20,000 projects the state architect allowed to open without a safety certification required under the Field Act, enacted nearly 80 years ago. The law is considered a gold standard of construction, and for decades, schools did not open without Field Act approval.

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. 

 “This is a crisis,” said Steve Castellanos, the California state architect from 2000 to 2005. “I think there has been a failure in the system.”

 In 2006, the state architect found inadequate testing of building materials, an increase in unapproved and unqualified inspection of school sites, and schools that were “completed with other dangerous construction flaws,” according to internal task force reports, e-mails and a confidential state architect survey.

 The Division of the State Architect recommends schools on this list hire a structural engineer to assess the risk and advise the city.

 The San Carlos School District paid the firm Hohbach-Lewin $35,000 to conduct an analysis of six schools within the city’s district, including the two at risk.

 The seismic evaluation found deficiencies in the construction of the two schools.

 “The greatest deficiency in these structures is the lack of out-of-plane wall ties in the [concrete masonry] wall,” the report sad about Central Middle School. “These types of structures are vulnerable to separation between the walls and roof diaphragms during an earthquake which may result in partial collapse of the structure as well.”

 For Arundel, different, but equally troubling problems were found.

 “While the buildings in question all met the standards of seismic resistance for the day they were designed, they do not possess the seismic resistance capabilities consistent with buildings designed and  built in conformance with current standards,” Dan Lewin, principal with the structural engineering firm, told San Carlos Patch.

 Superintendent Craig Baker, who was hired in July 2009, deferred comment to those more familiar with the subject.

According to data from California Watch, Carlmont High School was placed on the AB 300 list as well, but the Sequoia Union High School District was unable to provide information on the project at Carlmont High placed on this list by the time this article was published.

No public schools in Belmont received "Letter 4" Field Act risk status, the most serious designation by the state architect's office for safety-related deficiencies regarding school projects under the Field Act.

 Prior to the 2008 report, significant renovation was done to all of the listed structures, according to building records and interviews with President of the San Carlos School District Board of Trustees Tom Quiggle. The work, he said, included bringing structures up to the then-current seismic standards. 

 “I specifically recall seismic work done on the Central Middle School multi-use facility and/or connected structures,” Quiggle said.

 An evaluation of school board minutes shows that on Aug.27, 2009, the board discussed whether further evaluations by the firm could be paid for with Measure E bond funds rather than the general fund. The discussion was revisited on Sept 24, 2009.

 But no additional evaluations were ever done, and no structural changes were made.

 “Since the Hohbach-Lewin report was received, no additional seismic retrofit has been done to bring the structures up to seismic codes standards newer than what was in place at the time of the last major renovation,” Quiggle said. “This remains an area of interest for our Board as we evaluate the ongoing facilities needs of the district.”

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. 

To view the interactive map, click here http://projects.californiawatch.org/earthquakes/school-safety/