Seismic Safety—Are Lemon Grove Schools Safe if a Major Earthquake Strikes?

What would happen if a major earthquake were to strike during school hours when your children are in class—would the building hold up, or would there be a severe risk that the walls would come crashing down?

The answer depends on where you live in California. The answer for Lemon Grove is that it’s good your kids go to school here. All the schools in the district have been deemed seismically safe.

In collaboration with California Watch, a project of the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, Patch is releasing the results of a statewide school seismic safety investigation into how the Field Act—which is designed to protect children in public schools—is enforced.

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

The good news for Lemon Grove's schoolchildren is that none of the schools in the district was found to be in danger. That’s not the case for other schools in the county and state.

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.

The five elementary schools in Lemon Grove, , , , and were found to be in no danger, and not near a fault line. also made the grade, as did , which is part of the Lemon Grove School District though it is located in La Mesa.

, which is closed and being renovated to reopen as a magnet school, was not included in the results. Ken Fine, the district’s director of facilities, maintenance, operations and transportation, says the building is Field Act compliant.

“We think it’s fantastic news that we’re able to continue providing a safe place for our students to learn,” says Dr. Gina Potter, assistant superintendent of business services. “We take it very seriously that they’re in a safe learning environment.”

The investigation covered six areas of earthquake hazard: AB 300 projects, Letter 4 projects, near a fault, in A-P fault zone, in liquefaction zone, and in landslide zone.

Assembly Bill 300 (AB 300) required the California Department of General Services to conduct an inventory of public school buildings that are of concrete tilt-up construction and those with nonwood frame walls that do not meet the minimum requirements of the 1976 Uniform Building Code. Schools on this list are potentially at risk in an earthquake.

Under the Field Act, the California State Architect must certify that new school construction meets the latest earthquake standards. A Letter 4 project is not certified and considered most at risk. In most cases, the Letter 4 designation applies to a specific project at an existing school.

To learn about the findings to be presented in a three-part series read California Watch Investigates Seismic Safety of Public K-12 Schools.

For more information, read Patch by Patch: What You Can Do About Seismic Safety.

To learn  about seismic dangers near California schools, California Watch has provided an interactive map feature that allows users to search the entire state.

Editor's note: 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 Patch's partnership with California Watch.