Most Belmont Schools Meet State Seismic Safety Regulations

Most public schools in Belmont meet state seismic safety standards, according to data uncovered by the investigative reporting news site California Watch.

The first part of the 19-month California Watch investigation, which was published Thursday, uncovered holes in the state's enforcement of seismic safety regulations for public schools.

California began regulating school architecture for seismic 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 reports that only two schools have been able to access a $200 million fund for upgrades.

All seven schools in the are up to code with California’s earthquake safety law, despite recent findings by California Watch that thousands of other school projects in the state are not.

Two schools in the district joined nearly 20,000 projects the state architect allowed to open without a safety certification required under the Field Act, enacted nearly 80 years ago, according to data from California Watch.

and schools each were placed on the AB 300 list in 2008. AB 300, passed by the state Legislature in 1999, required the Department of General Services to conduct a “collapse risk” inventory of the state’s K-12 school buildings. If the state deems a school unsafe, it will send an AB 300 letter to the school district.

The maintenance garage building on the Nesbit Elementary School campus and a building on the Cipriani Elmentary School campus were among state schools placed on the list, according to reports from the school district.

The schools were taken off the list in 2010, though, after the district proved Cipriani’s building was made of wood and that Nesbit’s building didn’t house students or teachers. In order for a project to be taken off the list, the district must prove the buildings were made of a wooden structure instead of stone or concrete, or provide evidence that the building didn’t house teachers or students.

According to data from California Watch, 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 the 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.

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/