Earthquake Safety of the Mill Valley Middle School, Measure C, and the Marin County Civil Grand Jury Report

By Nejat Duzgunes

Following the Marin County Civil Grand Jury's recommendation in their March 23, 2009 Report, the Mill Valley School District needs to inform all the parents and other residents in the district of the existence of the potentially seismically vulnerable Category 2 buildings among our public school buildings. The MVSD also needs to immediately perform detailed seismic evaluation of the six buildings of the Middle School, and make the results public.

The Marin County Civil Grand Jury 2008-2009 Report Summaries that accompanied the Marin Independent Journal on October 1 coincided with the devastating and deadly earthquakes in Sumatra and Samoa. The report on "Seismic Safety and Marin Public Schools" reminded us once again that at least 75 public school buildings in Marin County are seismically vulnerable. These buildings, classified as "Category 2" by the State Architect in 2002, "require detailed seismic evaluation to determine if they can be expected to achieve life-safety performance." While these buildings may meet the seismic requirements of the 1933 Field Act, they do not necessarily comply with the more advanced 1978 and 1997 Uniform Building Codes. Despite the report of the Grand Jury published in March 2009, and a reminder letter from the State Architect sent to school districts in September 2008, the problem is being ignored by school officials.

A case in point is the $59.8 million bond measure in Mill Valley. While Exhibit A in the voter information pamphlet regarding Measure C indicates that Edna Maguire School (currently comprising Category 2 buildings) will be reconstructed, it does not mention the six Category 2 buildings of the Mill Valley Middle School. The MVSD Superintendent has indicated that there are no funds earmarked in Measure C for the detailed seismic evaluation of the Middle School. Measure C also does not address any potential structural problems in Old Mill School that was built in the 1920s, long before the Field Act.

In its report, the Grand Jury recommended that school districts inform their communities of the problem and encourage grass-roots efforts by parent-teacher associations. Unfortunately, most of the PTAs in the MVSD have refused to discuss the problem; one PTA has even retaliated against parents who asked for improved earthquake safety measures in the Middle School. By contrast, the Berkeley PTAs were instrumental in getting their buildings retrofitted in the 1990s. Parents, if not PTAs, have to help convince school districts to perform the seismic evaluations, and retrofit unsafe buildings.

Following the Grand Jury's recommendation, the MVSD needs to inform all the parents and other residents in the district of the existence of the Category 2 buildings. The MVSD also needs to immediately perform detailed seismic evaluation of the six buildings of the Middle School, and make the results public.

The Grand Jury report of March 2009 includes a statement by an executive of the MVSD that "the school board considers seismic safety as priority one." It is time for the board and this executive to show the public that they were serious about their statements to the Civil Grand Jury.