Is WCCUSD To Blame Over Retrofit Funding?
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 26 September 2008 — 2 comments below »
A wise reader chimes in on the school seismic retrofit article posted yesterday…
I believe the article by Suzanne Bohan about State funding to have seismic retrofit for schools is not the complete story of why our schools in WCCUSD have not been fixed. Although I do hope the district is successful in getting the funding from the state to fix the structural problems. I am very concerned for the safety of students and staff if they are in these facilities during an earthquake.
WCCUSD District has over Billion dollars from Bond measures to fix the seismic problems with schools. We are paying 4 Bonds on our property taxes for a minimum of 30 years on each. It seems it has been up to the school board in how to allocate the funds from the Bond Measures to fix schools. I have written to the school board and filed Complaints on these seismic issues. So, it’s not that they didn’t have money to fix Adams, the School Board chose not to. This is why I will be voting for Tony Thurmond and Antonio Medrano for school board.
Five schools were identified by the School Superintendent in 1999 of having a high probability of collapse, 2 of the most at risk schools were Adams and Portola Middle Schools. Adams was originally budgeted $42,834,869 for reconstruction from Bond Measure M.
Best,
Linda Ruiz-Lozito
The Dec. 2, 1999 letter from Gloria Johnston identifies schools with a high probability of collapse to start the structural reports. In 2002, DASSE Design completed the first reports and rated schools by Seismic Priority. It seems the priority matrix was not followed for fixing schools. Adams was originally rated as Priority 1 for its severe seismic problems then later they labeled it “1B” because of how they rated it for funding, but it still was really a “1″ or 1A” for its structural problems.
Excerpt from WCCUSD 3 page letter from Gloria Johnston, WCCUSD Superintendent, December 2, 1999, Page 2…
“… A phased process is proposed to complete be seismic evaluations based on the probability of collapse in accordance with the following order:
1. Buildings with a high probability of collapse.
2. Buildings with a moderate probability of collapse.
3. Buildings with a low probability of collapse. …”
_________________________DASSE Design Inc.
Date: 09/06/02
Revised 10/28/02School Phasing Recommendation – Preliminary
(Sorted by Seismic Priority with the worst at the top of Matrix)School Priority Matrix
Phase I
1. El Cerrito High School
2. DeAnza High School
3. Helms Middle School
4. Portola Middle School
5. Adams Middle School
6. Gompers Continuation SchoolPhase II
7. Richmond High School
8. Kennedy High School
9. North Campus / TLC / Vista Continuation SchoolPhase III
10. Pinole Middle School
11. Pinole Valley High School
12. Crespi MS
If WCCUSD ever had a billion dollars for anything it would be a record amount for a school district in the history of California, and that includes the state’s largest school district Los Angeles. The reference to a superintendent who left the district 3 years ago is also confusing! So much out of date and confused misinformation! Interested people can go to the WCCUSD website for up to date information on the bonds and current construction projects.
Hello. I’m sorry if my email message was confusing, it was written in response to the Article on School Seismic Retrofit Article.
I will attempt to clarify.
There is the PARCEL Tax – Measure D – for educational programs. Then there are the BOND Measures – for school construction. I support the Parcel Tax, Measure D.
Warning! – what I am about to say is not pretty.
Basically before the District/School Board allocated which schools to reconstruct, they had Structural Studies completed and identified which schools had severe structural problems. Gloria’s 1999 letter is to ask for funding to start the structural studies for school facilities with the 5 most at RISK schools for collapsing during an earthquake. This identified Portola and Adams in the top 5 schools to fix. Then in 2001 to 2002 the District hired DASSE Design to complete structural reports. They identified 6 schools with severe seismic deficiencies and life safety hazards, Portola and Adams were in the top 6 to be the first schools fixed with the Bond funds. So, what I am saying is that the School Board did not start construction on schools based on seismic priority or life safety issues – they were supposed to:
Excerpt (see below): “…In 2002, the Board of Education established ‘Life, Health and Safety’ as the primary criteria for prioritization and sequencing of projects…”
Here is where I get the Billion dollars, this list does not include the State Prop 39 money which would put it over a Billion:
1998 — $40,000,000 — (for Lovonya DeJean Middle School)
2000 — $150,000,000 — Measure M (Elementary Schools Capital Improvements)
2002 — $300,000,000 — Measure D (Middle/High Schools Capital Improvements)
2005 — $400,000,000 — Measure J (Elementary/High Schools Captial Improvements)
http://www.wccusd-bond-oversight.com/
I am afraid we have a mix of politics and special interests on our school board. The Seville Group was paid $30,000,000 at the beginning to manage our Bond program, I don’t know how much more they might have been paid since.
Excerpt: “Nearly one-third of Pfeifer’s money “$30,000″ came from The Seville Group, a Pasadena-based construction management firm that works on the school district’s $1 billion bond school rebuild program. The same firm contributed $20,000 to West Contra Costa board member Madeline Kronenberg’s campaign in 2006. …”
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_10109351?IADID
I am concerned that if an earthquake happens during school hours Adams and Portola, both 3 story concrete schools with known severe structural problems near the Hayward Fault, will collapse. I support Tony Thurmond and Antonio Medrano for school Board, I very strongly believe they will get students and staff in safe facilities. Tony has advocated for youth for 15 years and Antonio is a retired teacher.
Best,
Linda, Mother of 2 WCCUSD students
_________________
December 31, 2007, Measures D, M, and J Midyear Report, by Total School Solutions
Life, Health and Safety
The 2007 annual report lists a concern expressed by the citizens’ bond oversight committee as follows: “In 2002, the Board of Education established ‘Life, Health and Safety’ as the primary criteria for prioritization and sequencing of projects. There is an interest in verifying adherence to those criteria.”
The 2002 matrices are provided below. A comparison of these data with the year-by-year expenditures (shown in the expenditure reports for Measures D, M, and J of the 2007 annual report, beginning on page 32) demonstrates that the District has not strictly adhered to the original priority list. Deviations have been the result of the Board’s need to provide parity of service to the various communities in the District. The original list was prepared based on physical conditions. Later actions took into account those conditions and the need to provide balance between communities.
http://www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/bond/index.shtml
http://www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/construction/pdfs/W...
(see pages 52, 53, 54)
(Board Approved Routine Consent June 18, 2008)