Politics & Government

School Quake and Landslide Safety Questioned

California Watch investigative reporting squad and Patch collaborate to review building safety standards at public schools, including Laguna Beach.

How safe are Laguna schools in an earthquake? Patch.com collaborated with California Watch, the state’s largest investigative reporting team, to find out.

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

California began regulating school architecture for quake 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 says only two schools have been able to access a $200-million fund for upgrades.

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

Where do Laguna Beach Unified schools stand in all this? The state grades school construction projects using a four-letter rating system. Letter 4 is the lowest rating; letter 1 is the best.

In Laguna, all four schools have at least a few buildings rated at Letter 3. But interpreting whether they put students and faculty at risk is tricky. According to California Watch, some Letter 3 buildings in the state are closet Letter 4s. That's because state officials upgraded hundreds of buildings to Letter 3 in recent years without visiting schools to make sure potential problems were fixed, California Watch reported.

But Eric Lamoureux, a spokesman for the Division of the State Architect, downplayed concerns about Letter 4 buildings reclassified to Letter 3, saying most simply involved missing paperwork. “We don’t believe there are any significant safety issues with any of the Letter 3 projects,” he told Patch on Wednesday. 

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

At press time, Laguna Beach Patch was attempting to track down more detailed information on local school buildings, and should have a more complete report on our site Friday.

Even if a school’s construction is sound, it could face other hazards. California Watch created an interactive map that charts school locations in relation to earthquake faults, landslide areas and liquefaction zones. (In liquefaction zones, soil can turn to mush during strong tremors, shaking buildings more violently and damaging underground infrastructure.)

Three campuses (El Morro Elementary, Thurston Middle School and Laguna Beach High School) lie within a quarter-mile of both liquefaction and landslide zones. Top of the World Elementary sits near a landslide zone, but escapes liquefaction.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t necessarily mean the buildings would fall apart in a big quake. Because local school district officials and builders can be criminally prosecuted if students or staff are injured in a tremor at an uncertified campus, they hire their own inspectors and don’t open any structure that isn’t deemed up to snuff, Lamoureux said.

If you would like to get involved in this story and find out who to contact with your questions, go here. The page includes tips on preparedness, a list of frequently asked questions and a parents' preparedness checklist.

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.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here