Public schools in California seem to be failing the state’s students once again, according to California Watch, an arm of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting.
This time this criticism isn’t about substandard teaching, freefalling test scores or the achievement gap. Rather, the quality of school buildings themselves is in question.
In April, California Watch found “systematic failures by the state’s chief regulator of construction standards for public schools.”
State employees hired to inspect schools for earthquake safety were found to be inadequate and funding to improve school buildings was “virtually impossible” to secure, according to California Watch.
The state’s lack of enforcement of the Field Act, which maintains seismic regulations for school building construction, allowed “children and teachers to occupy buildings with structural flaws and potential safety hazards reported during construction,” said one California Watch story.
California has a 99.7 percent chance of a major earthquake in the next 30 years, according to the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast.
Mary Biron taught at Brooklyn Avenue Elementary in Los Angeles for over 35 years. For most of her career there, she helped develop and coordinate her school’s earthquake preparedness plan, raising money for emergency kits and implementing disaster procedures.
She says L.A. is lucky to have not had a major earthquake, but even beyond the California Watch findings, is dangerously underprepared for an earthquake.
“We were one of the best prepared schools because they [the principals] felt strongly about supporting our school in purchasing what we felt as a community,” she said.
It takes a grassroots effort to get schools earthquake-ready on a basic level. Beyond that, districts, and the entire state, are struggling for cash.
Kyle Ginnodo teaches 7th grade math and science at a small charter school in Culver City, outside of Los Angeles. His schools participate in earthquake drills at the start of the year as part of the “Great California Shakeout.”
He says Californians are “very aware of earthquakes” and feels that “it is the entire area of Los Angeles that is not earthquake-ready.”
Specifically, he says that charter schools such as his are under various levels of oversight from traditional school districts like the Los Angeles Unified School District. Many charters buy the cheapest properties they can find, including churches, for their facilities.
“Schools pay exorbitant amounts for pretty run-down premises,” Ginnodo says. “Because that’s all they can afford.
As a district, LAUSD has major financial issues, as does the state of California. Ginnodo says he doesn’t know where the money for updating school properties could come from.
The issue of whether or not disaster-ready construction should be high on a school district’s list of financial priorities is an issue beyond California.
